Hotel Paper
by Raina Wolfe - Lateraina
Summary: [Complete] Say Sam and Danny have never met...would things be different? When they are both seventeen, they meet for the first time, and fall instantly in love in a hotel.
1. Intro

Hi! Okay, I know I said I wouldn't be updating, but I really wanted to get this one up. As soon as January comes though, just to let you know, I'm creating several new HP and DP fanfics, and updating all of the ones I already have up.

For all you Michelle Branch fans, the chapters will look familiar. I've taken them from her second album, Hotel Paper.

PLOT: If Sam and Danny had never met, things become different when they out of the blue meet when they're both rebelling against their families. Takes place when Danny and Sam are both seventeen.

A quick catch up, Sam has a new friend Karissa, and Danny and Tucker are the best of friends still. Danny's personal life is a little the same, he has ghost powers, but there's someone missing from his life, before Spirt week, a terrible accident happened, so Jazz doesn't know his secret. Sam's parents are divorced, her grandmother is deceased.

Chapter One

Intro

_In the middle of the night, two doors slammed hard against their wooden frames. Ten miles apart, their furious slams echoed throughout their houses._

_The significance was like no other._

_A girl of seventeen, nearly eighteen years began packing up a large black suitcase. Although she was angered, tears fell down her cheeks as she layered her clothes into the case. Finding everything she could possibly carry, she zipped it up, and brushed her tears away. She looked in the mirror one last time, her dark amethyst eyes saddened, and then climbed out of her bedroom window, promising never to return._

_Ten miles away, the same scenario was being played out._

_A boy with blue eyes stormed into his room, grasping his hands tightly to his head in fury. Knowing that he would soon be followed, he picked up his forest green duffel bag and started throwing everything he would need to live inside. As soon as he was finished, a bright light illuminated the room, and in a matter of seconds, he had disappeared._

_Driving as fast as they could, the two teens, who had never met, ran away, and both simultaneously stopped to think things over at a hotel. _

_The same night….they would never forget….._


	2. Are You Happy Now?

Okay, I updated really quick. But the Intro was short, so, I had to work on Chapter One. So to all of my lovely readers, I present it to you now.

Chapter One

Are You Happy Now?

Danny Fenton watched as the headlights of Tucker's baby blue truck faded from sight down the long road. In reluctance to go in, he stayed outside, bouncing on his heels to keep warm in the below freezing weather.

However, the inside came to him. The door opened, and the dim light of the front entrance illuminated a girl with long red hair, whose blue-green eyes were staring down at him in disapproval, and even though he was waiting for a lecture, Danny couldn't help but notice that their was dark purple circles underneath his sister's eyes.

"Jazz," he began.

"Just come in," she snapped, holding the door open. He walked in and she started ranting. "You said you would be home by eleven. Well, guess what? It's one.

"I tried-"

"Don't give me that crap Danny, I've gotten used to your lies."

"Fine. The honest truth, I was having fun. I'm seventeen, I deserve to," Danny snapped, crossing his arms over his chest in defense. Before his sister opened his mouth, he cut her off. They'd had this conversation so many times, that he knew what she was about to say. "And just because I'm three months away from officially becoming an adult, doesn't mean, I don't have a life."

"Maybe you do have a life. But you are no where near becoming an adult. You can't even manage a curfew anymore."

"Who cares? You're not the boss of me."

"Danny, listen. I don't care that you're late, but I would like a reasonable excuse this time, other than your bike broke down," she said.

They had unintentionally ended up in the kitchen and were now standing on opposite sides of the room.

"I can't."

"Why won't you tell me what you do?!" she exclaimed, more to herself than him. "You are constantly coming home with bruises and cuts, you're always exhausted, you never talk to me anymore!"

"Why should I? Every time I try to, you act like you're some sort of psychologist," he replied, getting angrier.

"Someone needs to be around here," she said.

"Oh, here we go again," he said, exasperated. He shook his head. "Are we finished here? Cause, I'm tired."

"Why do you insist on being such a pain in the ass?"

"Why do you insist on treating me like I'm a kid? I'm not fourteen anymore, Jazz," he said.

"Danny. Look at you. You're about to fail your junior year, you barely have any friends besides Tucker, and not to offend, but you don't have a girlfriend, and you are so secretive constantly."

"Thank you for that. It's not like I don't have a reason."

"Danny, I didn't mean it," Jazz said, a little more gentler. "Please, tell me what's going on, and I'll leave you alone."

"Promise?" he asked.

"Promise."

"Okay….I'm half ghost and save the world everyday by fighting off ghosts that want to kill us," he replied.

There was a pause.

"Are you making up excuses to make yourself look insane?" she asked.

He groaned, tilting back his head. "I give up."

"You don't seriously believe in that ghost stuff do you?" she asked.

"I have to," he muttered, looking down at the ground to make sure he didn't look into her eyes.

"You sound just like Dad and--" she started.

Danny snapped his head up angrily. "Sound like who Jazz? Say it, I know who you're going to say anyway."

"I didn't mean to say that," she cried, putting a hand to her chin.

"Yeah, well you did. Once again, your mouth has brought up something it shouldn't have."

She turned around to face him, a new anger burning inside of her. "You think this has been easy for me? To grow up without her, to not have someone like her to help, to not go to college because she had to take care of her family?"

"No one asked you to stay!" he said.

"I chose to! You have no idea!"

"Oh, I don't huh? Were you there in the car? I think that you have no idea," he said, a memory poking its rearing head through.

_"Danny, I wanted to say I'm proud of you."_

_"For what mom?"_

_"You're almost fifteen, and a sophomore. Your grades have improved. And I'm proud of the way you're deciding to take your NASA career higher."_

"Maybe I don't. So why don't you tell me?" she asked, again more gently.

"How about not?"

_"They're not that good. I'm still having problems with Algebra."_

_"And your personality has improved. You're handsome, and smart, and humble, too," she added._

_They were coming up to an intersection. He was blushing mildly. His mother was picking him up from school and they were about to pick up Jazz from the library._

"Why are you like this? If you would only tell me what's going on in your life, do you know how much it builds up inside of you?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Danny said again. "Why do you have to pry into other people's lives? Not everybody likes to express their feelings."

_"Should we get ice cream tonight?" she asked._

_"A banana split sounds really good." Danny turned around in the passenger seat as his mom pulled across the road and looked out the window._

_A horn filled the silence. _

"Danny?" Jazz asked. Why was her brother zoning out? She didn't realize he was caught in a horrifying memory.

_"Mom, watch out!" he yelled. There wasn't enough time for his mother to steer the car out of the way. Danny closed his eyes and grabbed for her arm, trying to go ghost, just as the truck neared the passenger side._

_But his mom pulled away, trying to get them out of the way. His hand slipped….then there was a crash…._

_The next thing he knew, he was lying in the middle of the road, his head burning with pain…..And he closed his eyes. The last thing his green eyes saw were two flashes of light._

"Danny?"

Danny snapped out of it to see his sister standing beside him, looking at him with concerned eyes. His knees wouldn't support his weight any longer and he crashed to the floor.

"Danny, are you okay?" she asked, leaning over him. Just as she was reaching for his arm, he pulled away and sat up.

"Danny, what's wrong?"

He remained silent and then with slow, somber words, admitted the one thing he'd been keeping from her so long.

"I could have saved her."

"What?"

"I could have saved her."

"Who?"

"Mom. I could have used my powers, I did use my powers. I should have been quicker, I could have grabbed something else besides her hand."

"Danny, you're not making sense," Jazz cried.

"I don't make sense."

"What do you mean? You're scaring me," she said.

He closed his eyes and felt the tingling inside of him and let it out, changing himself from normal Danny to Danny Phantom.

She gasped, then breathed heavily as if she were hyperventilating.

"What are you?"

"I told you, I'm half ghost." He changed back instantly and her blue-green eyes narrowed.

"This is some kind of half baked joke that you and Tucker made up and I'll admit, it was good. Now where's the camera?" She looked around the kitchen, searching for it.

"Jazz, this is not a joke," he said.

"You did get me for a minute. I thought you were serious. Cool special effects. No doubt helped put on by Tucker the Technical. Seriously, where's the camera?"

"I'm serious," he said.

She stared at him and then backed away. "This isn't funny."

"I'm not laughing either."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

"You said you wanted to know the truth."

"So you really could have saved her huh/" she asked, not up to her usual nosy questions.

"Yeah," he said, feeling a burning in his eyes.

Then something happened that neither of them had expected. Jazz jumped onto of him and they crashed to the ground, fighting.

"Jazz, what are you doing?" he managed to ask.

"Killer, killer, killer!" she shouted over and over again, beating her fists onto his chest. "You should have died, not her, not her!"

She finally stopped and he rolled over, jumping to his feet.

She sat on the ground, trembling, tears covering her pale face. When she looked up, her eyes became a vision of disbelief.

"I didn't mean to do that. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry-"

He couldn't bear her words anymore. Without a backwards glance, he took off running, upstairs to his room, vaulting the stairs three at a time.

"Danny! Wait!" Jazz cried.

_"As we say goodbye to our loved one. Maddie Fenton will rest in our hearts forever….to rest in peace," the priest said._

Flashbacks corrupted Danny's mind, and his thoughts didn't make sense anymore. All he knew was that he needed to get away.

He rushed into his room and slammed the door as hard as he could, clutching his head, hoping to make everything go away. He took a quick look around and saw his ghost weapon filled, green duffel bag lying on the ground next to his bed. He threw it onto his bed and began piling all of his clothes into it. The last thing he shoved inside was a glass framed picture of his mother, before he zipped it up.

He didn't have much time. He heard footsteps on the stairs and knew instantly they were Jazz's.

Concentrating hard, he went ghost and disappeared by going invisible.

Jazz shoved open his bedroom door, desperately and then cried out in sadness and frustration at the empty room.

Her brother had gone.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"No."

Sam Manson felt herself fall inside. Okay, first try hadn't been so bad. But she was just warming up. She really wanted to go to this thing. 3 Doors Down was her only obsession.

"Karissa's mom is going to be there. So it's not like we're going to the concert alone or anything," she tried.

"Good point, but still no."

"Mom, this is huge. I don't ask you for much," Sam pleaded.

Her raven haired mother stared at her in disbelief with matching violet eyes.

"Okay, okay. Maybe I do. But it's not like we can't afford it," she pointed out.

"That was very low on your part," her mother said, sadly.

Sam hung her head. Why couldn't she learn to think before she talked? "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

"Yes, you did. And apology not accepted, and your answer is still no," her mother said, looking down at her book again.

"And why not?" she asked, not caring that she was whining.

"Number One: I said so, Number Two: 3 Doors Down cusses in their songs."

"They say damn. Everybody else does," Sam smarted off.

"Samantha Vanessa Manson. Did you just cuss in this house? You are Catholic, not some street girl," her mother said severely.

Sam whistled.

"What?"

"Nothing," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"What?"

"Maybe I don't want to be Catholic. Have you not heard of that awesome religion called Neutrality? I want believe, who I want to believe in."

"Sam. We've had this discussion before. You were raised Catholic, you will always be Catholic. End of story."

"In that case, mom, please let me go. This concert is once in a lifetime. Especially for Amity Park. Our town is like a pinprick on the map. Do you know how big this is that they're coming here?"

"I don't really care. I don't like them, quit badgering me."

"Dad would have let me go," Sam muttered.

With that, her mom slammed her book closed and stood up angrily.

"Mom, I'm sorry," she said.

"Where is your father? Probably out drinking or having sex with some of his other women?" her mother said furiously.

Sam had never heard this story. "What?"

"You heard me."

"But, Dad, would never…." Sam refused to believe it. Her father wasn't some man whore. He was a lawyer, a good person. Someone who accepted who she was with no question. Someone she could relate to where with her mother was like freezing ice.

"You put too much trust in other people Samantha. Your father isn't who you think he is. I'm sorry, but you're not fourteen anymore. You have the choice to mature, but it seems like you're having problems with it."

Something inside Sam snapped. "That's a lie! The only reason he's gone is because you're never home! You never cared about us! You are the one to blame!"

With tears pouring down her cheeks, Sam ran as fast as she could up the stairs to her bedroom. The Gothic designed interior decoration greeted her, but nothing could calm her.

Her thoughts rushed around and finally settled on one decision. She would run away. Get away from all of this. She had enough money to go to her concert.

She pulled out a black suitcase from underneath her bed and started filling it with her clothes, her black and green striped skirt, her trademark purple and black shirt and black boots.

She wiped a tear off of her cheek angrily and zipped up the bag. She couldn't possibly face her mother downstairs. Her only chance of escape was through her second story window.

Sure, she'd seen it in movies, but would it work now? She pulled her sheets from her bed and tied them together in knots and then through it out the window. She latched it onto her bed and then through her dresser on top of it.

The noise was deafening and soon she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She took one last glance at her ragged self.

Hoping she was right, she threw down her suitcase and began to climb down the rope. To her amazement, it actually worked and she landed on the ground.

Without a backwards glance, Sam left her house.

-------------------------------

His motorcycle's engine roaring through the silent, dark night, Danny kicked the gas hard, going so fast he thought someone was bound to catch him, and most likely that would be the police.

Thoughts swirled inside his mind, thinking of possible places to stay. Tucker's house was first; his friend would welcome him without question. But it was too obvious. His sister would find him too easily.

Jazz had been right about several things that night. One had been was that _he didn't _have any friends besides Tucker.

Now he didn't have any place to go.

At the end of the road, a blue and red neon light's sign glowed ahead, spelling out the sign, Holiday Inn Hotel.

Danny didn't have enough money to spend even one night there. He passed it quickly, watching as the traffic began to get heavier as he made his way into the center of the small town of Amity Park.

That's when it happened.

There was a large hiss and Danny's bike swerved out of control and he crashed onto the side of the road.

Coughing, he climbed away slowly, his jacket soaked with the just rained grass. He didn't seem to be hurt other than his arm, which had large scratches from the road rocks and his cheek, where when he ran his fingers on it, was a large cut.

"Damn it," he yelled to himself.

He looked at his blue and white bike, his "Crotch Rocket" as Tucker so naively nicknamed it. The front wheel had busted, and his small windshield was broken.

"Damn it," he said again. It'd taken years to pay for. Now, it'd be extremely expensive. And the fact that he didn't have money, wasn't helping.

He stood up, still a little shaken with his little accident, and walked over to it, and lifted it up. Looking around him, the only thing he saw was the same Holiday Inn.

Guess it would have to be the hotel. He could call Tucker, and maybe he could help him pay for it. Tucker always seemed to lately have some spare change.

Reluctantly making up his mind, he began dragging his bike across the road and over to the parking lot.

And even though his bike was broken, he knew people. Closing his eyes again, he touched the seat with both hands and focused on making it intangible. When his hands fell through it, he stood up straight again.

If there was one thing left that he prided himself on, it was how much his powers had grown. He had received them at the age of fourteen, and even then he had several. But now, instead of his intangibility gifts fading instantly, they could last for twenty four hours if he wished it to. Smiling weakly, he looked up at the glass doors of the hotel.

But first he had a couple of words to say to someone he knew would never hear him. "Are you happy now?" he asked, speaking to an invisible sister. "I'm no longer in your life."

And taking a deep breath, he walked in.

----------------------

Crying softly to herself, she hit the gas pedal with a little more harder than she meant to, sending her black Mustang shooting forward.

She had just crept out of downtown and was now heading towards the rural areas of Amity Park. A large building ahead caught her eye for a millisecond. The Holiday Inn Hotel.

While driving, Sam had tried milling over possible ideas on where to stay, and of course, Karissa, who'd been her best bud since kindergarten, place had been her first thought. But her mother knew she'd automatically go there.

She needed a place to escape, somewhere no one could find her. Especially not her liar mother.

A small sob wracked her, and she held in the coming others, biting her lip to think about something else.

The hotel would do for one night….she had enough money.

Before she turned into the parking lot, she saw a skid mark that started in the road and then lead onto the grass, which was now muddy.

"Damn gunners," she yelled, emotions getting the best of her. She muttered a couple of choice words as she parked her Mustang.

She shut off the engine and looked at herself in the review mirror. Black bangs fell in her face and she brushed them away.

"Mom, look at me. I hope you're happy now. Now that I'm running away, and I'm out of your way," she cried.

Taking a deep breath, she climbed out of the car and began walking towards the brass outlined, glass doors.

She began to reach for the handle, when someone else reached for it at the same time, and their hands closed on each other.

--------------------------------

Oooh…..kind of cliffhangy. I made Jazz and Sam seem really witchy. But I like seeing Danny on a motorcycle, so love that visual. Check out the next chapter, "Find My Way Back To You", coming soon.

Lateraina Wolf


	3. Find Your Way Back

Hey, Lateraina's back. I kind of wanted to apologize, I screwed up on the Intro. Instead of the accident happening before Spirit Week, pretend Spirit Week never happened. Also, I fixed my many typos. I seem to have a problem with that. And, I messed up on another part that comes in this chapter. So to many of you who know the Holiday Inn Hotel, I know that you can't get a room at three a.m., but I'm not sure how this plot would work out if it wasn't, so I made it up. This story takes place during Christmas break for Casper High, so that's why Danny can run for a while.

A new character, Karissa is introduced in this chapter too. She is the kind of type that gets around from guy to guy, and she also makes a comment about Danny when she first meets him, that I hope doesn't offend anyone.

And one last thing, I'm going to sum up the characters of Danny and Sam.

Danny: 17 years old, ghost powers, drives a motorcycle, plays guitar, blames himself for Maddie Fenton's death, junior year at school

Sam: 17 years old, still rich, drives a Mustang, sings rock songs extremely well, junior year at a Catholic school, neutral in religious beliefs-- some episodes wouldn't even have happened because she wasn't there; Fright Night, Mystery Meat, etc.

Thanks to my reviewers:

Dream-sorcerous11, GreyRavenNorth, UniqueWofLover, AREZAL, Karaniya-broken, fluffyrachel, DannyPhantomLover, AngelofLight, Dannys-Ghostly-Girl, Mrs. Granger-Weasley, anODDperson

The Fuzy Llama- That's not fair! Just joking! Everyone is welcome to look up the other chapter names, otherwise you'll find them out later.

Fatlazikat- I didn't understand half of what you said, but I think you liked it. Yes cheese is good. Thanks for your review

Hiromi Tenshi- Ahh..a new reviewer I've never seen. Cool, you make my day. And heck yeah, nice visuals. I love bike boys..

Indome: I took the whole "Crotch Rocket" thing from my sister's stupid, jackass boyfriend because even though he's a jerk, he's got a nice bike.

KP4me- I've never written any KP fanfics. I write HP and DP, but I like KP. I watch it with my brother. I'll be sure to check out any stories you've written.

I promise I won't let you down with this one.

The damn disclaimer that I constantly forget: I don't own Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman does. I don't own Hotel Paper or the songs in it, Michelle Branch does.

Chapter Three

Find Your Way Back

Sam pulled away, shocked at first at how warm the stranger's hand was despite the wintry temperatures. Looking up, as whoever it was, was slightly taller than her, she saw spikey black hair and pale blue eyes.

For a moment, her heart seemed to stop. All of the events of the night seemed to disappear as she stared deeply into the boy's eyes. She usually didn't believe in love at first sight, but even her mind was having second thoughts. He had handsome physical features and he had to be around her age at least. And looking into his gorgeous blue eyes, she seemed to stare into his soul….

Danny held in a gasp, staring, enchanted at the girl's pretty amethyst eyes. She had short black hair and a pale complexion. But god….was she beautiful. He couldn't snap back from lovey dovey world, entranced by his vision. But, he couldn't stand and stare like an idiot.

"Sorry," he said, breaking the spell.

Sam snapped back into reality. Groaning to herself, she mentally slapped herself. Way to look like an idiot.

He pulled open the door for her, politely, and she smiled, looking back at him before she walked into the main lobby of the hotel.

He felt his heart turn a cartwheel at her smile, and followed her inside, trying not to watch her every move.

Sam walked over to the desk and waited in line at the desk, since there was already three people in front of her. She felt insides turn over as she saw the blue eyed stranger come up behind her.

She took a few calming breaths. Ask him….ask him…ask him…She turned around, hoping she wouldn't come off as some kind of prostitute or stalker.

"I'm Sam, Sam Manson," she said.

"Danny Fenton," he replied, his eyes lit up with some unknown emotion. That's when she noticed a large scratch on his cheek.

"Are you okay?" she asked concerned, pointing to it.

He brushed his hand over it and grimaced at a sudden sting. He shrugged, wiping away a few streaks of blood from it. "I have a problem with grace. I have none."

She laughed, smiling at his reply. "Staying over for the holidays?" she asked.

"Actually, no. I just needed, somewhere to go for the night," he said. Why did he just say that? Great job Danny, spill your secrets out to someone you don't even know, and probably someone who could really care less.

"Really? Me too," she replied. Sam mentally slapped herself again. Since when did she become such a blabbermouth? Let's announce to the whole world that I'm running away.

He nodded, and suddenly memories from the night events evaded his thoughts. _"You deserved to die, not her, not her!" _

Sam turned back, suddenly lost in her own night flashbacks. _"You were never there! You never cared! You are the one to blame!" _

The line moved, allowing the two emotional teenagers to clear their minds.

"Do you live here?" Sam asked. She wasn't real big on silence.

"Yeah, about five blocks from here. You?"

"I'm more of a city girl," she said, proudly.

"You call Amity Park a city?" he asked. He blushed. Now he was accusing her of being stupid when she was probably being sarcastic. Bright much Danny?

"I guess not," Sam said, laughing at her own dumb moment. Now she appeared stupid. What a wonderful job she was doing on making an impression.

The two people ahead of them of them moved, and now it was Sam's turn. She walked up to the desk and began speaking to a blonde clerk. He was also obviously tired, as it was almost three o'clock in the morning.

"I need a room for tonight. As long as it's near the pool, I'll be good," Sam said, thinking about the warm, stress relieving hot tub that could be waiting for her.

"Any other accommodations?" he asked, typing something into a computer.

"One bed, and a TV," she replied.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but we don't have any one bedrooms until next week. Seems that we're hosting a Sci-Fi Group Convention on Thursday. I'm sorry," the clerk said, sincerely.

"Damn it," Sam said gloomily.

When she heard an echo behind her, she was surprised to see that Danny had cursed the same thing at the same time she had.

"This just sucks," she said. "I'm assuming you were going to do the same thing?"

"Yeah," he said miserably. He rubbed his fingers through his eyes.

Something sparked inside Sam's mind, and for a moment, she had no idea where it came from. But as the plan formed in her mind, she grew more excited.

"Can you hold that a minute?" she asked the blonde haired clerk. He nodded, looking at her oddly. She gave him a smile, then turned to Danny, who was putting back on his gloves, preparing to leave.

"Want to share a room?" She blurted. Way to be blunt Sam.

He paused, his left hand fingers only half covered, and looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "What?"

"Look, I'm only staying for one night and so are you. We'll get separate beds and share the expense of the room," she explained.

He bit his lip, pondering this. Here was this gorgeous, strange girl, asking him if they wanted to share a room? Not that he was, but she wasn't worried that he was some kind of murderer?

"One night. Then we can go our separate ways," she said.

"One night…..okay," he agreed at last.

"Cool. I'll- We'll, take a two bed room. TV and near the pool," she added again. "Under Sam Manson and Danny Fenton."

The blonde glanced back and forth between them, his green eyes questionable, then turned back to his computer and entered it in.

"Any movies you order or phone calls you make will be printed and charged on your receipt. The diners and bars are open until midnight, the pool from eight a.m. until eleven p.m."

"Okay," Sam replied.

Danny wasn't sure what to say. This had come as such a shock, that he wasn't sure of anything.

"And two keys?" the clerk asked.

Danny cleared his throat, blushing furiously. "Better make it three." Better safe than sorry. Unfortunately, he'd developed the art of losing things from his father. And just to prove his point, he put his ungloved hand into his jeans pocket , making sure he had his keys. To his luck, they were there.

"Okay." The Clerk leaned down underneath the desk and brought out a copy of the hotel's blue print map. "Your room, 203, is right here--" he circled a square with a green Sharpie-- "Up the stairs, after your turn left down that hallway-" he pointed to a hall leading to their right-- "The pool is on the first floor, on the right of the stairs." He handed them two credit card shaped keys.

Sam picked them up and Danny took two from her.

"Thanks," she said to the clerk. She picked up her suitcase. "Coming?"

"Yep." That was an intelligent reply Danny.

Sam took the map and flipped it out in front of her. As he grinned at her, she felt her heart flutter and held in an excited gasp. She smiled back, biting her lips so she wouldn't do anything crazy.

She wondered how much she was coming off as some sort of total slut. She had just invited a total stranger to stay in the same room with her overnight.

She hoped he wasn't thinking about anything that involved her doing anything. Again, Sam mentally slapped herself. This boy, to her was handsome, and sweet, and innocent. But wasn't that the ideal appearance of every murderer?

"Coming?"

It took a moment for Sam to realize she was being addressed, and when she did, she felt herself blushing like mad. She'd have to have been zoning out for the last two minutes.

"I'm sorry," Sam said, picking up her suitcase.

Danny smiled and it felt good. He didn't have much to smile about any more.

Sam led the way, into the hallway, past a door that led to stairs and they climbed up and exited through a second floor door.

"203.…203," Sam repeatedly whispered, reading the white on black room number plates as she walked by.

She stopped at a mahogany door. "Yeah, this is it." She pushed in the key, then pulled it out and a light on the lock turned green.

And for the second time that night, their hands met again when they were both politely trying to help the other by opening the door.

Sam pulled away first again and laughed shortly, her heart pounding in her chest. No. Despite everything she'd felt about this boy, it seemed to slow at her next thoughts. In a couple of hours, she'd say goodbye to him. She couldn't fall for him and get attached to his….pretty blue eyes and great smile….

He opened the door and they walked in, the aroma of fresh linen meeting their noses. A door to the right had to be a bathroom, and a TV inside a wardrobe faced two, made up beds. A window, with a view of a dark cornfield, was at the edge of the room, next to it, a desk, matching the wardrobe oak.

"Which bed do you want?" Sam asked, turning on another light and letting go of her suitcase handles.

"Whichever," he said.

"I like being closer to the wall, is that okay?" she asked. She hoped she wasn't appearing bossy.

"Yeah, that's fine," he said. He put his duffel bag on the other bed and unzipped the large pocket. "I'm thirsty, do you want anything?" he asked, absentmindedly taking out a couple of ones from his wallet.

Sam remained silent; she was thirsty, and she knew he was trying to be polite, but accepting his offer would make her seem greedy, but if she didn't, she would seem rude.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get whatever you want," he said, noticing her sudden reluctance. He saw her nod, smiling to herself, and his mind went back into lovey-dovey world… A girl like her couldn't be single…., then again, there could be a small chance. But his mind was warning him of danger. If he fell too deep for her, then a couple hours from now, he wouldn't be able to let her go.

"7-Up or Dr. Pepper would be great," she said.

He broke away from his thoughts. "Okay, then. Be right back," he said, remembering that he had seen a pop machine on the way to their room. He walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Sam felt ready to burst into tears. Her life was a wreck. She had run away from home, and she was sure her mother was so angry or wounded enough to not want her back. And now, the first real love she'd thought she'd felt, would disappear in a matter of hours.

Glancing around at the unfamiliar room, she couldn't imagine why he had taken her up on her offer. It's not like she was pretty or anything.

She took off her coat and laid it down on her bed, sitting down next to it. The night had been terrible.

On the bedside table that was set between the two beds was a phone and thinking quickly before Danny came back, she grabbed the received and punched in Karissa's number.

A sleepy voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Karissa, it's me."

"Sam, do you know how early it is?"

"Yeah, but I was wondering if we could talk. I'm at the Holiday Inn."

"What are you doing there?"

"I ran away. Mom and I had a fight. Listen, can you come here?"

"Sure, I guess….what room?"

"203, but bring your swimsuit and meet me by the pool. We'll sneak in and turn on the hot tubs," Sam said, not believing what she had just proposed.

"Okay, be there in ten minutes."

Hoping she hadn't just gotten them in serious trouble, Sam tried to think of possible excuses for Danny, and then possible excuses if they did get caught.

She pulled out her purple and black swimsuit from her suitcase and walked into the bathroom to change, still running ideas through her head.

-----------------------

Danny put his dollar in the machine and then pressed the Dr Pepper button down hard. There was a crash as it came through to the trap below it, and fifty cents were returned to him. He looked up, letting his hand guide him through the whole to get the change.

Out of the corner of his eye, his blue eyes caught a pay phone on the wall. Deciphering whether he wanted to call Tucker more or use the change to quench his thirst, he decided on the phone.

He pressed the coins in, setting the can of soda down on the wooden perch so he could dial his friend's house.

"Hello?" Tucker's half asleep voice called.

"Hey Tucker."

"Danny? Have you lost your mind? It's like three thirty in the morning."

"I know. Listen, I need some spare cash. I'll pay you back."

"Are you okay?"

"No."

"Dude, what's up?"

"I ran away. I'm spending the night at a hotel."

"What happened?"

"I don't really want to talk about it. Can you help me or not?"

"Yeah, sure. Where are you?"

"Holiday Inn. Room 203. I'm checking out tomorrow, it won't be that much, I think."

"203. Isn't the second floor usually two bedroom rooms?"

"Yeah."

"You got a two room bedroom for yourself?"

"One rooms were unavailable."  
"Okay…."

"Tucker, please. Can you come by sometime around ten?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't know what's going on, but it'll turn out okay."

"Somehow I doubt that. I'll explain tomorrow. I'll see you then."

"Okay. Bye Danny."

"Bye."

He set the phone down, memories evading his thoughts once again. _"Killer, killer, killer!" _He hadn't wanted to tell Tucker about sharing the room with Sam; he would only scoff and make jokes, and he wasn't really in the mood.

He grabbed the can and headed back up to the room, almost missing the door to the room. He pushed in the key and it passed, and he opened the door.

Sam stood in the middle of the room, and Danny couldn't help but notice what she was wearing. A black, one strap swimsuit with purple zebra stripes running through it, and a matching black bikini bottom. She was staring at the large mirror hanging on the wall above the desk, singing softly to herself, the Evanescence song, "My Immortal."

"When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears, when you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears." Obviously done with looking at her reflection, Sam turned around and her eyes widened at the sight of Danny. Clearly, she hadn't known he had been there.

"Hi…" she said uneasily, blushing with embarrassingly..

Danny forced himself to stop staring at her clothing. "Are you going swimming?" he asked, tearing his eyes away.

"I hope you wouldn't mind. I invited my friend Karissa over so we could talk," she said hurriedly. The best thing she had come up with was the truth.

"So you're going to sneak in?" he asked, holding out her drink.

"Yeah….how, I'm not sure."

"Can I come?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, you girls can talk and everything. I just need to relax for a while. Maybe swimming will help," he said.

"I hope you know that we could get into trouble," Sam said, not knowing why she was hesitating. Why did she have to be so rude sometimes?

"I couldn't get in any worse trouble then when I--" he began. Stupid..stupid..stupid. Let's explain that you're half ghost and go through the same thing you just did with Jazz.

"What?" she asked, smiling softly.

"Never mind," he said quickly.

"Yeah…okay," she said. If he was hiding something, she could relate, so there was no point in trying to press further when she was keeping things from him too.

"Karissa's going to be here in a few minutes," she announced, picking up a towel. "If you get your suit on quick, I'll wait for you."

"Sure." He dug through his duffel. He didn't have a swimsuit, but he had brought his red gym shorts and a couple of tee shirts. He pulled a pair out and went inside the bathroom to change.

Sam hopped impatiently on her heels. They'd known each other less than a half an hour and already they were acting like the best of friends. And just think, an hour ago, she had never believed in love at first sight and coincidence meetings that lasted in a love life forever.

But this wouldn't last…it couldn't. Someone couldn't fall in love and stay together by meeting by chance at a hotel.

She took a sip of her drink just as the door opened and he came out, carrying a towel and wearing red shorts and a tee shirt that said, "Fenton Works," on it. Fenton was his last name; it must have been his job or something that involved something.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yep." Another intelligent reply made by Danny.

They walked down the stairs and exited through the door and then turned to their left. Through glass windows, they could see a dark room, but could clearly see a pool and two hot tubs at the end of the room. At the door, someone waited impatiently.

"Karissa!" Sam shouted.

Karissa, a fiery, curly red head with green eyes, wearing a very revealing red bikini top swimsuit and matching bottom, turned around at Sam's voice, and then cocked her head when she caught sight of Danny.

"Hey, Sam. Who's this?"

"This is my friend Danny," Sam said, hugging her friend. "He's in my room."

"Ooh, you rented a stripper?"

Sam groaned at her friends pervertedness and Danny tried hard not to visualize anything, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

"No, Karissa. We needed a place to stay, and there was no one roomers left, so we decided to stay together for a night," Sam explained, feeling herself melt in embarrassment.

"Oh, okay…" she said sarcastically. "Okay, Sammie, you're the bright one, how do you suppose we get in?" As if trying to prove a point, she turned to face the locked door leading to the pool.

"Don't you have a bobby pin?"

"You try bobby pinning this frizz mess down," Karissa said, referring to her curly hair.

"Dang it. Maybe we should kick the door, or try my key," Sam suggested.

Danny thought of something suddenly. "Or we could do this." He walked over and turned around so that he had his back to the door and he was facing them. Putting his hands behind him, he pretended to lift up, but instead made his hands go intangible until he felt the lock click.

The door swung open and he turned to them expectantly, making sure his hands were normal again. Sam smiled.

"Impressive," Karissa said. "Looks like you've had practice. Better watch out Sammie, he's a bad boy," she said, entering the pool room.

A wave of jealousy swept over Sam as she caught the look that her best friend gave the blushing Danny before she went into the room. She pretended not to ever notice, but ever since she and Karissa had began middle school, she constantly went after guys, and usually the ones Sam had ever shown an interest in.

However, Danny either was oblivious to her flirtation, or also pretended not to notice, because he held the door open for her, and then followed her inside.

Karissa laid her long blue towel out on one of the beach chairs and then walked over to one of the hot tubs, leaning down to the ground. There was a sudden noise and Sam discovered she had turned the heat on. When her friend walked over to the wall, there was a sudden gushing noise as she turned on the spas by pressing a button.

Sam walked over to join her as Karissa dipped a toe into the water.

"Oh, wow, it's warm already," she said, surprised.

"Really?" Sam asked. She turned around after laying down her own towel on the chair next to hers, and felt her breath catch in her chest.

Danny had taken off his shirt and was about to dive in, and Sam couldn't help but notice that he had extremely large arm and chest muscles, illuminated by a light tan.

There was a splash as he dove in, and then began to swim.

"Sam, hello?" Karissa asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Sam tore her eyes away from watching him as he started to backstroke through the water and shook her head. Don't get attached….

"Went off into Fenton world didn't we?" she asked as Sam stepped into the heated water.

"What?" Sam asked, surprised at her question. Then she remembered that she had told Karissa his last name when she had introduced him. She didn't answer, still watching him intently as he swam gracefully.

"I can see why. He's gorgeous….man, did you see those eyes? Beautiful," Karissa cooed, also staring at him.

"Yeah," Sam said without thinking. Then she sighed. "All the good ones have to say goodbye. I'll never see him again after today."

"I'm going to keep in touch, hell yeah I am," she said.

"Maybe I will too," Sam said.

"Oh my gosh. Does he like bench like four hundred? Check those muscles out," she commented.

"Oh, please Karissa. Now it's your turn to come back from Fenton world," Sam snapped, letting her muscles relax in the bubbly water.

"I don't know. What's his story?"

"No idea. It's none of my-- _our _business Kari," Sam warned.

"Oh, come on. Tell me you don't want to know a little about him?" she asked, leaning forward.

"Maybe, but it's none of our business," she said again.

"So we don't ask him about personal stuff. Let's play favorites," Karissa said. Before Sam could protest, Karissa called out to him.

"Hey, Danny?"

Danny turned around; Karissa had caught him at a resting point and he had heard her call him. She waved over to him, mentioning him over there.

"Come join us!" she offered.

"Nah, I don't want to interrupt anything," he said, treading water.

"You aren't going to," Karissa urged. "Come on in. The water's warm."

He saw Sam smiling reluctantly, her eyes waiting expectantly and he nodded and swam to an edge of the water and pulled himself out.

"Good swimming?" Karissa asked as the two girls watched him step into the hot water.

"Yeah," he said, his muscles relaxing instantly with the warm, foamy water. It felt good on the sore ones he had received fighting off the latest ghost threats.

"Want to play Info and Favorites?" she suggested, scooting over closer to him.

"I guess…" he said, having no idea what she was talking about.

"What about you Sam?" she asked, splashing her Gothic friend.

"Sure."

"Okay, my turn first. Hmm…Danny, how old are you?" she said, tapping her fingers together as if thinking hard.

"Seventeen. I'll be eighteen in three months," he replied, knowing where this game could possibly take him.

"Sam?" Karissa asked, even though she already knew.

"Seventeen. Eighteen in five months," she said.

"I'm going to turn eighteen in three days, ha," she bragged, turning her attention to Danny. His raven hair was already spiking as it dried. "Your turn Danny."

"Um…Sam, favorite color or colors," he asked, unable to come up with anything fun.

"Black and purple and green."

"She's our resident Catholic Goth," Karissa blurted.

"Catholic Goth?" Danny asked, trying hard to visualize that.

"I'd rather not be Catholic," Sam declared. "People should be free to believe what they want. And some people don't understand that." She said the last part with a bit of bitterness and Danny chose not to ask.

"Okay, Karissa, what's yours?" Danny asked, changing the subject. Sam smiled, looking down, and Danny felt his heart numb. Why was he falling for this complete stranger that he'd never see again come later morning?

"Red. That's it. And yours?" she said, fixing a strap on her swimsuit.

"Blue, maybe silver," he said.

"Sam?"

"What?"

"Well, what's your question?" Karissa asked, splashing more water at her.

"Oh." Since when did Sam zone out like that? But even she knew the answer. She had been staring into the pure icy blues of Danny's beautiful eyes. "Um…. Hobbies." She turned to face Danny.

He thought for a minute, playing absentmindedly with the water bubbles. "I like to play guitar. 3 Doors Down and Evanescence and there's other groups I play, but those are the ones I like best."

Sam felt her breath catch in her chest again. She loved 3 Doors Down and Evanescence. She'd memorized every single one of their songs.

"Do it…..do it….do it," Karissa chanted beside her. "You know you want to."

"Shutup Karissa," Sam snapped.

"Do what?"

"She likes singing. She's pretty much obsessed with 3 Doors Down." She leaned down to lay her head on the concrete edge. "What's that song you said you like, something like, "You love me but you don't know who-"

"Let me go," Danny and Sam said simultaneously.

Karissa looked up to see both Danny and Sam blushing, looking away to avoid each other's eyes. She sighed and laughed shortly. "It's getting freaky deaky up in here."

"Karissa, you aren't ghetto."

"I know that. I was just joking," she argued.

Danny laughed. Sam pretended her heart hadn't just leaped up against his chest. She'd never heard a true laugh from the handsome stranger, and she couldn't help but hear that it was layered with the deepness of his voice.

"Any other hobbies?" Karissa asked. Before either of them answered, she spoke again. "Sam's sings. She sounds exactly like Amy Lee of Evanescence."

"No, I don't," Sam tried to protest.

They all jumped when suddenly the bubbles turned off, their bodies had been used to the spas shooting into the tub.

"Guess that's our cue to get out," Karissa said. She turned her wrist and Danny caught a very expensive looking gold watch. "We've been here an hour anyway."

Dripping water, she stood up and walked out over to her chair and wrapped her towel around her lower half.

Danny and Sam got out at the same time and did the same. Karissa leaned down to turn off the heater and then began leading the way out of the room.

"Sorry, we didn't get the chance to talk much," Karissa whispered as Sam caught up to her and Danny remained a few paces behind.

"Don't worry about it. We've got the rest of the day," Sam said.

"Hey you!!! What are you doing!?"

The three didn't need to turn around to see the hotel security guard staring at them, and they knew they were all guilty; each were dripping water.

One look between each other found one plan; split up and run.

While Karissa tore off in the other direction, Sam following and then turning left, Danny tore off past the door, running as fast as he could.

The security guard, a rounded black man, decided to leave Danny and follow the other two, obviously thinking he was fast.

"Crap," he whispered, peering around the corner at the retreating man's back. He hoped the other two were speedy. Great, his first day here, and he was already running from people he could get into serious trouble with if caught.

"Hey, here's one of them!" said a voice behind him.

He whipped around to see another security guard running down the hall towards him, and he took off running again, turning a corner, and dashing into an empty hall. Catching a door ahead of him, he ran in, the guards and hotel keepers chasing after him, and instead of going down, went up.

The door opened and he had barely gone up two flights. Unless he did something quick, they would catch him.

Closing his eyes, the stairwell was filled with a flash of light as he became his ghost form. Not waiting another second, he went intangible and flew high, ending up on the fourth floor.

He came up in another, luckily, empty hallway. Changing back to normal, he began running towards another stairwell, which was around the corner.

Both gave out cries as they crashed into each other. Sam had been running the opposite direction to where Danny had been running from.

They crumbled to the ground and then did the unthinkable.

Both burst into laughter.

"You're right, you have no grace," Sam joked, unable to stand up because of the hysterical laughter that wracked her.

"Hey, you could have been watching where you were going too," he said, slowly standing up. He had to admit, his shoulder was killing him as she had rammed him into the wall.

"We've got to go that way, that guard followed me," she said, doing the same.

"We can't go that way, he's got buddies," he said.

Sam covered a hand to her mouth. "We're trapped. This is the suite floor. There's only two hallways on it."

Danny's ears caught what it was impossible for Sam to, mainly because of one of his many new powers he had equipped. Footsteps coming from both directions, towards them.

The only hiding place they had was behind a Pepsi machine. Danny grabbed Sam's arm and pulled her over beside it.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "They'll see us."

No they wouldn't. Not if it worked.

"Shh….trust me." He pulled her over to stand in front of him, her head digging into his chest, and focused hard on making them invisible without turning himself into his ghost half.

As soon as he couldn't see himself anymore, hoping she wouldn't notice anything, the same black security guard came into view, coming in from where Sam had, and the two were in plain sight.

However, Sam watched in amazement as the security guard passed right by them. She about pulled away to rejoice, when he pressed her to him harder. Then she heard what he was stopping her for.

"Have you seen them?" asked a male voice, one of the other hotel chasers.

"No, I thought I saw one of the girls come up this way," said the black hotel guard.

"Did you get a good look at them?"

"No, just black hair and female," he replied.

"We got at least one male, and two females," said another voice.

"We'll keep searching. They obviously aren't here. Check the first and third floors, they can't have gotten far."

The voices faded as the searchers walked down the stairs or took the elevator. Danny at last let Sam go, loosening his grip, and turning them back to normal, but she didn't pull away.

"Oh, my god. We almost got caught. Can you believe they didn't see us?" she asked, looking up at his green eyes with her own violet ones.

"Yeah," Danny said, pretending to be surprised.

"Do you have those eyes that change with your mood?" she asked, astounded at how different they looked. He tensed up and blinked his eyes, cussing several choice words in his head.

"I guess," he said, opening them.

"Oh, wow, now they're blue. That's a cool trick. That was amazing," she said, now talking about their little experience. She still hadn't pulled away from their embrace.

He laughed. "Stupid security guards."

Sam stared up at him. She couldn't help it. She had fallen and fallen deep. She was madly in love with him. She remained quiet, but slid her hand into his.

He stopped for a minute, then stared down into her, and she had never seen so much devotion and passion in anyone's eyes as she did his.

And the thing both had wanted to do ever since they first had laid eyes on each other happened in that moment.

Their lips met in a passionate kiss.

------------------------------

Yeah, long I know. I seem to be into the whole D/S thing lately, other than The Rebel. But you can't tell me you didn't love some of those visuals. Look for me soon, chapter four will be up soon!

Lateraina Wolf


	4. Empty Handed

Hello, I'm back with chapter three, of one of my most favorite stories to work with, might I add, as I love working with the whole D/S romance. By the way, coming in three weeks is a brand new HP fanfic, Before the Letter, and a DP fanfic, Violet. Also, I apologize for not updating Fiction which will be updated Monday!

For my readers, so you're not online for about an hour, it would probably be best if you cut and pasted this chapter onto your computer, cause this is an extremely long chapter. I think I ended it with, in fact, fifteen pages.

Let me see, thanks to my reviewers! You guys are great! Glad you like this story!

Sahira Flame, rachie, Karaniya-broken, GreyRavenNorth, getfuzzyfan04, Dannys-Ghostly-Girl, Caz 33, AngelofLight, Enula, Indome, Dooley, Hopeless474, Mrs. Granger-Weasley, fatlazikat, waterangel18, Divagurl277

And now on to chapter four!

Chapter Four

Empty Handed

Danny and Sam didn't notice the redhead girl coming up behind them as they were busy kissing passionately, and didn't notice her until there was a gasp from her.

Sam pulled away, reluctantly, and turned around to see Karissa staring at them, eyes wide, one eyebrow raised.

"Karissa," she said.

"Sorry I interrupted," Karissa snapped.

Sam wondered why she was angry. She was still in his arms, his warm hand remaining on her back, and she didn't want to let go.

Hadn't this been what she wanted ever since she first laid eyes on him? Ever since the first time she had looked into his blue eyes, ever since the first time he had spoken to her? It seemed like dreams did come true.

Danny didn't move, and didn't want to either. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Was it true she felt the same way? That she loved him like he did her? Their kiss had surely just proved it, right?

"If you're done, I'd like to stay out of trouble, and get my hair dry," Karissa said. Danny was confused. Why was Karissa acting like she was furious?

She was probably angry that they had gotten into trouble. But she had been involved with sneaking in too.

"Sure," Sam said, pulling away from his hands. She stared up deeply into his eyes and smiled, hoping that they could continue later.

"Good."

Karissa took the lead, and the two followed her as she opened the door Danny had come from a crack and peeked out.

"Come on."

They followed her down the stairs to the second floor and then walked the long hallway to room 203.

"Should we order pizza?" she asked, reading the room plates.

"At four o'clock in the morning?" Danny asked.

"Um…hun, it's almost six," she said, holding out her watch to show him.

"Really?" Sam and Danny said simultaneously.

"Yeah."

"Pizza sounds good, but not for breakfast," he said.

"I agree," Sam said. Maybe we should just wait until the hotel's breakfast bar opens or the Green House restaurant they have here."

"Yeah, okay," Karissa said, stopping at the door.

Sam took out her key from the towel she had, and zipped it in and then out. The lock clicked open and the three entered the room.

"Wow, it's freezing in here," Sam announced, wrapping her towel around her.

"Yeah," Danny agreed, looking around intently. Surely he was being paranoid, and the hotel just had the air conditioning on or something? Please…….

"Well, duh, the room keepers must have the air on," Karissa said, walking over to the window, where below it was the temperature control was. She pressed a few buttons, and it made a different noise.

Danny let out a sigh of relief and turned his head to get a clearer view of Sam, who was staring back at him.

God….he'd never loved anyone more till this day as he stared into her beautiful amethyst eyes. He'd have to be the luckiest person on earth to find someone like her.

"I'm going to go dry my hair," Karissa said, stepping between them and breaking their eye contact as she disappeared into the bathroom.

"Good thing I don't need to use the bathroom then," Danny muttered as the door closed with a slam.

Sam sighed. "Kari's kind of self centered," she admitted. She walked over to her bed and rummaged through her suitcase. She looked up, as if she didn't find what she wanted, and saw the TV sitting desolate on the wall.

"Do you want to watch a movie while we're waiting?" she asked.

"Sounds good," he said.

She grabbed the remote control as Danny sat down on his own bed, leaning his head against the wooden headboard.

"Movies….Action/Adventure?" she asked, looking over at him.

"Cool," he said.

She pressed the button and a list of movies appeared, and she read them off. "Out of Time, The Punisher, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and Van Helsing," she said excitedly.

"I love that movie," they said together.

Sam blushed. Coincidence? That they liked the same movie, the same sci-fi, fantasy, vampiric movies?

Danny grinned, looking down. "Van Helsing then?"

"That's great," she said. She pressed the button, and there was a warning of the price before the movie started.

Even though it was his favorite movie, Danny found himself zoning out. Sam was speaking along silently to the words, obviously memorized. She was perfect for him. She was funny, adventurous, and wasn't afraid to show her true feelings. If only she knew how he really felt about her…..

Sam tried to focus on the movie, snapping back to reality to go along with the lines that she had memorized, but she couldn't. All she could think about was Danny. She'd never felt a love so true with anyone else but him. And even though she'd met him only a couple of hours ago, she felt as if she'd known him forever. And she loved him….she admitted it.

Karissa came out of the bathroom, her hair straighter than it had been, but still slightly frizzy. But that didn't mean she didn't look like a supermodel. Sam felt insignificant compared to her best friend. How is it that Danny liked her then?

"Oh, you're watching that movie again?" she asked her.

"Van Helsing is awesome," Danny said, not taking his eyes off the screen as Hugh Jackman fought against Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde.

"Sam's obsessed with it. If anyone's watched it a billion times, it's her," she said. She sat down beside her on the couch, still wearing her swimsuit.

"Have not," Sam defended.

"Have too," Karissa argued. She looked at Danny, smiling. He was really handsome and not to mention muscle. Umm….. But she had to find more about him. It was her job as a gossiper.

"So what's your story?" she asked him.

"Kari, that's none of our business," Sam argued again.

"Well, if you're going to share a room with him, you might as well make sure he isn't some serial killer, Sammie," she said.

Danny laughed, and shrugged. "I'm having family problems."

"Danny, you don't need to go on, it's alright," Sam suggested, shoving Karissa playfully.

"Have any siblings?" Karissa asked anyway.

"Yeah, an older sister, Jazmine," he replied, trying not to get too far into memories.

"You live by yourself?" she asked. Sam tried to protest, but she was determined.

"No," he replied.

"You live with Jazmine?" she asked.

"And my dad."

"And mom?"

"My mom is dead," he replied sadly.

"Oh. --"

"Karissa, that's enough. Let's just watch the movie and leave him alone," Sam said.

"Actually, I'd better get home." She stood up and stuck a finger in his direction. "She'd better be in one piece the next time I see her, got it?" she asked.

He nodded, laughing shortly, and Karissa hugged Sam, then walked out of the room.

Sam sighed again. "I'm sorry. She's always like that."

"It's alright," he said.

"I'm sorry about bringing all of that up. Are you alright?" she asked gently. His mood seemed different. She felt it was all her fault. Maybe inviting Karissa over had been a bad idea. But she didn't know she was going to pry.

He shrugged, not replying, and they watched the movie in silence.

_Great, _Sam thought. _Now I've upset him. _But as he watched the movie, he grinned seriously, as if thinking about something. She wondered what he was thinking about.

Before she knew it, her thoughts had turned into dreams, as exhaustion became clear and she fell asleep, laid out across the bed.

Danny found himself trying to keep his own eyes open. He'd had a long night. He looked over at Sam, who was sleeping peacefully on the bed, her eyes closed, smiling dreamily.

He turned off the tv, the movie only half over, and pulled off the covers. Swallowing nervously, he stood up and walked over to the other bed.

Sam's body was twisted in a position that couldn't have been comfortable. He took her arms gently, trying not to wake her, and straightened her out, lying her head on the pillow. He pulled the covers over her, and she turned to lay on her side, still sleeping.

Bending down to her level, he kissed her on the cheek and she smiled as if she had felt it, but still remained asleep. Smiling himself, he sat down on his bed and turned off the light.

"Goodnight, Sam."

------------------------------------------------

"Morning Danny," Sam greeted as she brushed her wet hair, staring into the mirror again. She'd taken an early morning shower, and had tried hard not to wake him up.

He sat up, rubbing one eye with his hand, yawning. "Morning."

"I see you're not a serial killer," she joked.

He laughed. "No, that I'm not."

"I didn't wake you up, did I?" she asked, turning around to look at him directly, her amethyst eyes rather almost apologetic.

"No, I'm used to Jazz waking me up anyway," he said.

"Jazz?" she asked.

"My sister. It's short for Jazmine," he explained.

"So, don't you have school?" she asked.

"No, Christmas break," he said. "I've got about two weeks left."

"Oh, me too," she said. "My mom unfortunately made me go to a Catholic school." She made a face and turned back to the mirror.

"I'm guessing you're not very religious," he joked.

She laughed manically. "No."

"I'm sorry I cut out on the movie last night. I must have been tired. Usually I make it through movies I like," she said.

"It's alright," he said. He pulled his bag from the ground up onto the bed.

"I don't even remember climbing back under my blankets, I was so tired," she said.

He looked away, averting her eyes. "Do you mind if I use the bathroom? I'm going to take a shower."

"It's fine. I'm done in there anyway," she said.

"Okay," he said. He pulled new clothes out from his bag and smiled before walking into the bathroom.

Sam continued to brush her hair, thoughtfully staring at herself in the mirror. Black shirt with a large purple oval in the center. A black and green striped skirt. Purple panty hose, underneath two ankle height black boots. She was Goth all right. She adjusted her choker with her free hand and then looked at the time.

It was three minutes after ten. They had until eleven to check out. She couldn't do it. How could she leave him now? Hadn't their kiss meant something? Surely he felt the same way?

There was a knock on the door and she set down her brush and stared at it curiously. Maybe it was Karissa, back, and ready to explain and apologize for her behavior.

She walked over and opened the door, but it wasn't Karissa she saw standing in the doorway.

He was black and had green eyes, his black hair topped off with a reddish beret. He grimaced when he saw her.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, I must have the wrong room," he said, staring at the number plate. She was being friendly, but he doubted she could help him. It wasn't like his best friend knew many girls.

"Oh, that's okay." She watched him curiously. "Maybe I can help. Who are you looking for?"

"Darn it, Danny. Never mind. I'm sorry I bugged you--"

"Wait, are you looking for Danny? As in, Danny Fenton?" she asked, as he started to walk off.

"Yeah, do you know him?"

"Uh-huh. He's in here. Well, he's in the shower," she said, smiling.

Tucker blinked several times. "What did you just say?"

"He's in the shower. You can wait in here for him if you want," she offered. "Are you one of his friends?"

"Yeah……who are you?" he asked, staring at her in disbelief.

"Oh, sorry, I'm so rude sometimes." She held out a hand, smiling cheerfully. "I'm Sam, Sam Manson."

He took it awkwardly. "Tucker Foley." This was bizarre…..

"You want to come in and wait for him?" she asked.

"Sure…."

She opened the door and let him follow her into the room, where she walked over to the desk and started to brush her hair again, trying to make it straight.

"So are you friends with Danny?" she asked, making friendly conversation between the odd silence in which the young boy stood weirdly on the far wall near the tv, keeping a safe distance from her.

"Yeah," he replied shortly.

Luckily, at that moment, the door to the bathroom swung open and Danny stepped out, wearing a white and red tee shirt, and blue jeans, and was rubbing his hair with the towel, trying to dry it.

He stopped when he saw him.

"Tuck, what are you doing here?"

"You told me to come over here," Tucker pointed out. "Around ten you said."

"Is it that late already?" he asked.

Sam nodded and set down her brush again and bounced on Danny's bed. "He showed up about five minutes ago. Said he was looking for you."

"What in the hell is going on?" Tucker exclaimed.

Danny gave him a dirty look and set down the towel. "Sam, this is Tucker Foley. Tucker, this is Sam Manson."

"We've met," he said. "What I want to know is, why you two are together here."

"They didn't have any extra single rooms, so we decided to share," Sam said.

Danny nodded in agreement.

"So, you two spent the night together?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Okay……."

"It's fine Tucker. Sam's nice," Danny said.

"Nice in the fact that I nearly got us kicked out of here," she said.

"Hey, I agreed to come along," he said.

"Yeah, but Karissa didn't have to come over," she said.

"She was fine. You wanted a friend's company."

"Are you two like an item now?" Tucker interrupted. They were bickering like an old married couple. He had to admit; Danny seemed to like this girl.

They both didn't reply, looking in other directions sadly.

Tucker sighed. Wrong thing to say at the wrong moment clearly. Was it possible Danny actually was crushed on this girl? Maybe they weren't telling him everything……

"I'm starving."

"Let's go get some breakfast. I think the Green House is still open," Sam suggested.

"The Green House? Isn't that like a vegetarian place?" Tucker asked, remembering a time when his family had spent a night here for a vacation.

She nodded, smiling proudly, and raised an eyebrow. He got it.

"You're a vegetarian….."

"Yep."

"The Green House sounds good," Danny said.

"Since when are you a vegetarian person?" Tucker asked. Had he been whipped much by this stranger?

"I'm not a vegetarian, but that doesn't mean I don't like veggies," he said.

"In or out Tucker?" Sam asked.

He couldn't believe it. She was already acting like he'd been friends with her for a while, and she'd known him less than ten minutes.

"In, I guess," he said.

"Great. Let's go," she said eagerly. The two boys followed her out of the door, and Sam skipped ahead.

"So what's all of this about?" Tucker whispered to Danny.

He shrugged. "I already told you."

"You're just going to trust a complete stranger?" he asked.

"What could she possibly do? We were both looking for a place to stay, and we decided to stay together. We trust each other. End of story. One night," he said.

"You like her don't you?"

Danny didn't reply, but continued to walk.

"What happened last night?" Tucker said. Even though he was still trying to argue, he figured it best to change the subject and then try again later.

"Jazz and I got into a fight. I told her about my ghost powers," he whispered, barely audible.

"What?"

But he couldn't explain any further because they reached the elevator leading down to the first floor.

"Going down?" Sam teased, pressing the button.

Tucker turned towards her. "Are you one of those tree hugger vegetarian people?" he asked hopefully.

"I'm an Ultro Reclyco Vegetarian, if that's what you mean," she replied.

"Which means what exactly?"

"She doesn't eat anything with a face on it," Danny explained. For some strange reason, he felt a sudden chill of déjà vu, like he'd said it before. He shook it off, watching the floor number come up.

"Yeah, that's it," Sam said. She suddenly felt a familiarity. Hadn't they had this conversation before? But it was impossible, she'd just met Danny yesterday, Tucker all of fifteen minutes. She ignored it, and thought about something else.

"I'm a meat person myself," Tucker argued. Danny elbowed him to make him shut up and Tucker's green eyes glared back.

The elevator doors opened and Sam, making sure no one was coming out, stepped inside the vacant space, Tucker and Danny following her.

He looked around, and his eye caught something on the bulletin board that was on the right wall. He read it silently.

_"Local bands needed for Wake the Dead, a Gothic café, located in the center downtown of Amity Park. Guitar players, vocalists, keyboarders….."_

He could play guitar. If he got a job there, he could earn some money to repay Tucker, and maybe live out on his own for a while until things calmed down at home. But he wasn't sure about the whole band part. He didn't sing, and a simple guitar song wasn't going to do the trick.

"Hey, check this out," Sam said, looking over in the same direction.

"What?"

"This ad," she said, pointing to the board. She read hurriedly aloud. "Local bands needed for Wake the Dead, a Gothic café, located in the center of downtown of Amity Park. Guitar players, vocalists--"

She cut off. Hadn't both Karissa always told her that she sounded like the lead singer of Evanescence? If she could find a guitar player, she could sign up for the job, and then maybe get some money to get her own apartment. She certainly didn't want to go home just yet. But where in the world was she going to find a guitar--

Then she remembered something about last night.

_"I like to play guitar. 3 Doors Down and Evanescence and there's other groups I play, but those are the ones I like best…"_

She looked over at Danny. If she asked, would he go for it.

However, she didn't have time, because they reached the first floor and she took the lead again, stepping out into the main lobby. She gasped as a familiar face started to walk towards her.

She turned around and faced them. She pulled off a black gel bracelet from her wrist and started messing with her hair, pulling it back into a ponytail.

The two boys stared at her, in confusion and trying to be discrete, she nodded her head towards the man.

Danny's blue eyes went wide as he saw him. "Come on," he whispered. He hoped he wouldn't recognize them. He'd be screwed if he did.

He took the lead this time, and walked them into the main lobby.

"What is going on?" Tucker asked, confused.

"Shh!" Both of them whispered at the same time.

"I'll get you a pair of sunglasses or something," Sam said to Danny, as she looked at the same clerk at the counter. "They always have extra things like that."

As she walked away, Tucker turned, his eyes narrowed to his best friend. "Are you going to explain what the heck is going on _now?" _he asked. His lowered his voice. "Is there some kind of ghost thing?"

He shook his head. "We snuck into the pool last night and then when we came out, we almost got caught."

"You're here one night and already you're a criminal?" he teased.

"Man, shut up," he said.

Tucker laughed. Danny watched in relief as the security guard walked right past them, going in the other direction.

At the counter, Sam spoke to the blonde haired clerk again.

"Do you have a pair of sunglasses? I left mine at home," she asked.

"Sure do." He reached down underneath the counter. "You're the two plus one who snuck into the pool last night, weren't you?"

She gasped. "No-- we weren't," she stammered.

"It's alright. I won't tell anyone. I've been waiting for someone to do that for a long time. I find it quite hilarious," he said.

"So everyone heard about that huh?" she asked as he handed her the glasses.

"Everyone heard about it. Everyone who works in the hotel that is. Better keep a low profile for a while," he suggested.

"Already working on it," she said.

"Good luck. I'll keep your secrets," he said, adding a little smile.

She smiled back and grasped the sunglasses, and started walking back towards the boys, who looked relieved.

"Is he gone?" she asked.

"Yeah," Danny said.

"Here, take these. Gotta keep a low profile for a while," she said, handing him the sunglasses.

"Why? You guys are only here for like a couple more hours," Tucker pointed out. The two didn't say a thing again.

Sam bit her lip. "Danny, can I talk to you a minute?" she asked.

Danny nodded and turned to his confused bud. "Do you mind getting a table Tuck?"

"Sure…." he said, sarcastically. He walked off, shaking his head in disgust. Danny sighed; he was probably being unfair to him. He'd have to do a lot of apologizing.

"I've been thinking," Sam began, butterflies in her stomach. Danny turned his gaze back to her. She swallowed and stuttered nervously. "Look, I really don't want to go home just yet."

"Yeah, neither do I," he agreed.

"So, why don't we stay here together for a couple more nights? We'll split the expense between us still. And, stay away from midnight hot tubbing," she added.

"It sounds great. But I don't want you to think I'm really some sort of criminal or anything," he said.

"I don't, trust me," she said. Before she knew what she was doing, she had placed her hands around his neck and was kissing him.

Danny, surprised at first, closed his eyes, and returned the kiss. They pulled away after a couple of seconds.

She stared up into his eyes, breathless. "Look, I never thought you were anything more than someone I love more than anything else. I loved you since we met. And I'm not afraid to show you. You haven't shown me any signs that you're someone who's conceited, and dishonest, and arrogant."

A small wave of guilt crossed over Danny. She wanted him to be honest; he was more willing except for his darkest secret. If she were to find out, how would she react?

Sam dipped her head, a pink rising to her cheeks. "You don't feel the same way, do you?"

He laughed and pulled her hand up, and kissed it. "I've never loved anyone quite like you. I have to say I'm in love as well," he admitted.

She smiled, then gasped. "Oh, my gosh Tucker. He's probably waiting for us," she said.

"Oh, he'll be fine," he said.

"I don't think I'm making a good first impression," she admitted, taking his hand in hers as she walked down the hall to the restaurant.

"Don't worry about it," he said, blowing it off.

"Danny, I was wondering something else," she said, almost reluctantly as if she were embarrassed to ask.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You said you played guitar. Do you think you could play for me? I would sing, but only if you play. We could get that job at Wake the Dead," she said.

His eyes widened in surprise at her question. Hadn't it been what he'd been thinking about?

"Depends on what you sing," he said. He mentally slapped himself. That was rude to say.

"Evanescence, Aimee Allen, Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, The Donnas, mostly girl lead songs. I can also sing 3 Doors Down and Switchfoot at a higher, soprano tone," she said. Was he testing her or something.

"You'll be perfect," he said. He turned to her and leaned down to kiss her. She kissed him back, smiling, her hand touching her lips. "Of course, you are perfect. Let's go there later today."

She couldn't do anything but smile, blushing at his comments. So this was what it was like to have a boyfriend She could finally live the life Karissa led, except she would remain forever with him and him only.

Danny took her hand again as they walked closer to the Green House. He couldn't remember ever being so happy before. He'd never had a girlfriend before. And he had to admit, he was loving the feeling.

"Hey, Tucker," he said, upon arriving near the table. Tucker looked up, slightly annoyed and watched the two sit down opposite him, next to each other.

"Sorry it took so long," she said. She picked up a menu and bit her lip, her eyes following the veggie choices.

"What were you doing?" he asked.

"We've decided to stay here a little longer," Sam blurted. She cringed, hoping Danny wouldn't mind her outburst.

"One more week couldn't hurt," Danny said, playing with his watch.

"Whoa, whoa. I'm not lending…that much," Tucker added with emphasis.

Danny groaned. He'd totally forgotten he'd asked him to aid him in paying for the room. Then he remembered.

"That's okay. I'm getting a job anyway," he announced.

"Really?"

"We're getting a job," he corrected, pointing to Sam, who didn't tear her eyes away from her menu, a flush beginning in her cheeks.

"Where?"

"Wake the Dead. In the elevator, there was that post up about them needing bands. I sing and Danny plays guitar," she said, leaning into him. He put his chin on hers, his fingers twirling her hair.

Tucker stared, half confused, half weirded out. "Are you two like lovebirds or something?"

Danny laughed and tossed his rolled up napkin at him. He'd never been called lovebird for. It was a brand new feeling. One he liked.

"You could say that," Sam said.

Tucker about said something when suddenly he jumped and dug around in his pockets, and then they heard a ring tone. Sure enough, he brought out his expensive, chrome cell phone.

"Stupid text messages. I thought I turned off the vibrate--" he stopped, staring at the screen. His eyes widened as he read the message.

"Is your mom wondering where you are?" Danny asked.

"Ummm…..no, I think you should read this, dude," he said, handing over the phone. Danny took it curiously, and read the screen.

_"Tucker, if Danny is there, please send him home. I need to talk to him. Please."_

"Jazz," he whispered.

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked, looking up at him.

"No," he said, taking a deep breath. "Just personal stuff. Here." He gave Tucker his phone back.

Sam sensed a sudden mood change again, like earlier that morning when Karissa had tried to dig into his problems. She decided not to ask.

"So what do you boys feel like ordering? The Garden Great sounds great," she said. "Green peppers, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, mushrooms-"

"That's just wrong," Tucker interrupted. Even Danny had to admit it didn't sound too appetizing.

"Can I take your order?" a waitress asked, stepping up to them.

They ordered drinks, and then entrees. She took their menus back and then walked took it to the chef.

"So, you guys are forming a band, huh?" Tucker asked, his eyes on his PDA. (Danny couldn't believe he'd brought it with him. Take that back, he could.)  
"Yes, Karissa says I've got a talent," Sam said, wondering if she was sounding conceited.

"Who's Karissa?" he asked.

"She's my best friend. We've been buds for a long time."

"What school do you go to?"

"Amity Park's Catholic Have," she mumbled irritably.

"You're Catholic?" he asked incredulously, in disbelief.

"Unfortunately. I'd prefer not to be," she said.

"Danny and I have been friends since kindergarten at Casper High," he said.

"So I've heard," Sam said, watching as the waitress neared with their drinks. She brought them over and set them down and she smiled at her and took a long sip of Dr Pepper with her straw.

"What has Danny told you exactly?" Tucker asked.

Danny narrowed his eyes, hoping he wouldn't go any further. He still hadn't figured out how he was going to tell Sam about his ghost powers.

"Not much, but I hope that will change." She didn't mean it to be nosy and Danny knew it. She was staring deep into his eyes, a hopeful pull inside their amethyst color.

"Interesting. So what songs are you going to sing?" he asked, taking a drink from his Mountain Dew.

"You bounce from subject to subject don't you?" she asked.

"Seems to," Danny agreed, ducking as Tucker threw a piece of ice at him from his drink.

"Evanescence, 3 Doors Down--" She felt around the seat, and latched onto Danny's hand.

Danny, who had been taking a drink, felt a shiver of excitement at her touch, felt his arm tingle suddenly and it go intangible. Without the support, his glass of 7up fell onto the seat. Sam shrieked as the liquid rained down on top of her.

"Grace," Tucker commented, trying to sound normal, but he noticed that Danny's arm had suddenly gone invisible mode. This girl really was getting to him. Accidents like that didn't usually happen to him unless he got nervous or angry or something.

"I'm so sorry," Danny apologized, ignoring his sarcastic friend. He picked up the fallen glass and swiped the ice inside it.

Sam shook her arm, rubbing a napkin across it. "It's okay. I'm sorry if I made you do that," she said. She wasn't about to admit she was soaked. But that didn't mean her clothes didn't show it.

Danny was now busily wiping up the seat. "Not it wasn't you. I seem to be a walking klutz," he admitted, blushing madly.

When the seat appeared dry, Sam smiled awkwardly and sat back down next to him.

"I'm sorry," he said again. He looked down. His arm was back. Now.

"Don't worry about it. No harm done," she said.

"Danny's always been so graceful," Tucker declared.

He glared at him. "Thanks Tuck."

"No problem," he said.

"Here you are," the waitress announced, carrying over a tray. She set down their plates in front of them and took Danny's glass, then came back within three seconds to give him a new one, which he made sure didn't have any accidents.

"This is great," Sam said, taking another bite.

"Yeah, if you're a vegetarian," Tucker said, staring at his fork, which appeared to have something that looked like a mushroom attached to its spikes.

Sam laughed. "At least it didn't used to have a heart."

"But it used to live," Tucker pointed out.

"Let's not start a revolution here," Danny said before Sam could reply.

"Have you seen Danny's instrument yet?" Tucker asked, changing the subject back again.

Both Sam and Danny snorted as they ate. Tucker caught on to what they were choking about.

"That's just wrong. That's not what I meant. I meant have you checked out his guitar yet?" he asked, annoyed.

"God…..that was great," Sam said, still laughing. She'd remember that one for a while. "No, not yet."

Something sparked in Danny's memory. His guitar; his black and silver electric/acoustic guitar that had painted on its frame all around it, silver flames, which Tucker had again nicknamed "Ghost Flames." The very same guitar he'd left…..by his windowsill at home…..

"Oh, no," he muttered aloud.

"What?" Sam asked.

"My guitar's at home," he said.

"Can't you just fly over and get it?" Tucker asked.

Danny's eyes widened again.

"Why do you mean fly?" Sam asked.

Tucker coughed before answering, going rather red himself. "He's got a motorcycle. Paulina…."

"Paulina?"

"That's Tucker's second nickname for it," he said, glaring at him.

"Paulina was Danny's first crush," Tucker said.

"Oh," Sam said, looking down uncomfortably.

For once the naïve boy noticed. "Sorry," he said sincerely.

"Everybody has their first loves right?" she asked. But I've never loved anyone like you before, she thought, staring at him. She leaned into him again, and sat down her fork, satisfied.

He smiled. He couldn't believe this was happening. He couldn't believe how truly lucky he was. The innocent little crush he'd had on Paulina could never match up to this.

"How does dessert sound?" Tucker asked, putting down his own fork.

"Sounds great. Brownie sundae," Sam said, licking her lips.

The waitress came back over and took their order and then five minutes later brought it back.

"Go for it," Tucker said, as Sam picked up her fork first. She laughed. Maybe they could be friends.

Inside a large plate was a soft, chewy brownie with vanilla ice cream on top of it, streaked with chocolate syrup. Sam dug her fork in and took a bite.

"Ummm….." she said, feeling like she was in heaven. Her mother never allowed chocolate. Too religious. "Try this." She forked out another bite and handed it to Danny, who smiled and took the bite.

"Wow, you two could get married," Tucker declared, watching them.

Danny coughed, pressing a hand to his chest. Sam rubbed his back, chuckling. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. He finished swallowing. "It's really cold ice cream." Of course he knew she wouldn't fall for it; she was too smart to fall for a lame excuse like that.

"It's ice cream, it's supposed to be cold," she smarted off, taking another bite. She didn't say that she knew what he was flustered about. She had to admit, her own heart had fluttered when he'd said it too.

They finished the brownie between the three of them, and then split the bill between them; luckily both Danny and Sam had extra cash they had brought with them.

"Hey, sorry Danny, but you were right earlier, my parents are probably looking for me," Tucker announced, staring at his PDA again.

"Yeah, thanks for coming over," Danny said sincerely.

"It was nice meeting you," Sam said politely.

"Yeah, you too," Tucker said. "Call me if you need me again. Maybe we can all go out. Watch you guys perform."

"I'll bring Karissa, and we can make it a double date," Sam suggested excitedly.

Danny couldn't help but smile cause of the look on his best friend's face. But Tucker nodded, scratching his head.

"You do that," he said. "See ya."

He walked out into the lobby and out of the sliding glass doors. Danny turned to Sam, who had a hand pressed over her mouth as she was yawning.

"I think I'm going to take a quick nap," she said. "Coming?" She tickled his hand with her fingers.

"Tempting, but I have errands to run," he said reluctantly. "I have to fix up my bike and go pick up my guitar."

"Okay. When do you want to sign up for the job?" she asked.

"Tomorrow would probably work. See you later?" he asked.

"I'll be waiting," she said. She laughed and walked backwards the other direction and to the elevator.

And Danny sighed. Was it possible for someone to love this much?  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phasing through the second floor of his house, he appeared inside his room, turning back into his human form upon landing on the floor.

Looking around, he spotted his heavy guitar right where he'd left it. He went over to pick it up when he tripped over something. His room's trash can. The can didn't make a sound when it tipped over, however, the noise Danny made when he crashed onto the floor was deafening.

He muttered a few choice words and pulled himself up. That's when he heard it. Movement from downstairs. Footsteps rushing up the stairs.

He automatically knew it was Jazz, but didn't want to stay to chat. Even though he missed her, her words had hurt and he knew it would take a while for it to go away.

That's what he risked, being a ghost. He now knew he couldn't tell Sam. She would react the same way Jazz had, except different.

He rushed over and pulled his guitar from its wrack and threw the strap over his shoulders. He found the case and picked it up as well. He went ghost again and turned intangible, flying through the ceiling.

Just as the door opened to his room.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Boo!" Sam shouted as he walked through the door. He'd spent a lot of time trying to search for one of his keys, which had gone missing already. Probably down in the pool. So he'd had to use his spare.

"Hey, I thought you were sleeping," he said, his mood lifting instantly the moment he saw her.

"I did. You were gone for almost two hours. How'd it go?" she asked, bouncing on her bed. Obviously she had gotten some sleep. That or extra caffeine.

"I snuck in the house and she didn't see me," he said, half truthful.

"Oh, cool. So what's your guitar look like?" she asked.

He pulled the case, which he had secured the heavy instrument inside, and set it on top of his bed. Opening the latches, he pulled the lid off and she gasped.

"Oh my god, that's awesome," she said, staring at it.

He leaned back on the bed, watching her as she examined the neck and boards, and then the beautifully painted body.

He hadn't gotten much luck from the auto body shop however. They said it'd be at least three hundred dollars to pay for the damage. While it wasn't much compared to what it could have been, he still didn't have that much money. He'd have to get this job or he was screwed and he'd have to give it away or sell it.

She finished idling the guitar and leaned down next to him, her head level with his shoulder.

"What do you say, you and I take a break and go out to the movies? I really want to see Elektra," she suggested.

He nodded, thinking. "A movie sounds great."

She tilted her head and brought his hand up above them, tracing her fingers along it again.

"Or we could stay here for a while," she said.

"Or we could do both," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"But movie first," she teased, pulling his pillow from the top of the headboard and smacking him with it.

He feigned injury and moaned in pain.

"Oh, you big baby, come on," she said.

"Big baby huh?" he said. He pulled her back down and hit her back with the pillow and she shrieked in mock horror, laughing.

Danny picked up his pop can from earlier and took a swig. "Whoever gets to the movie first has the honors of buying." He crawled off the side of the bed and started walking towards the door.

She leapt on top of him and he barely managed to stay on his feet. "I don't think so."

He pulled her up so she was sitting piggy back style on him. "Oh, you think so?" He started walking with her still on top of him to the door and pulled it open.

A figure stood in the doorway and stared back at them, suddenly confused and intrigued at the same time. Danny froze.

It was Jazz.

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That was rather long, sorry. What a cliffe there! Ah, romance. Please R&R!

Lateraina Wolf


	5. Tuesday Morning

Back with chapter five at last. And I received over fifty reviews again, my third story to do so, and I really appreciate it guys.

A special character is introduced fully in this story, so look especially hard for it.

One little note. The name of this chapter is Tuesday Morning. For those of you who have heard this song, you'll know what its about. I repeat once again: In my stories, **no one**, whether it be Danny or Sam, or any other couple will have sex. I do not enjoy reading about sex, I do not enjoy writing about sex, and I do not enjoy watching it on movies/tv. So with that said, if that's what you were looking for, I'm sorry, but you will not find it here.

So with that said, I'm sorry if I offended anyone, it's just my style. Thanks to my reviewers:

Spotzplaya888, Sahira Flame, Neutron Phantom, rachie, fatlazikat, Carissa (awesome name), kitty00240, The Griminus, kineticboy2001, the Druidess, Divagurl277, Dream-sorcerous11, DannyPhantomLover, Yayfulness, Hopeless Forever, GreyRavenNorth, Dannys-Ghostly-Girl Dooley, getfuzzyfan04

The Fuzy Llama: Glad you're back. I think I've said that about three times now! Argh….grounding always sucks.

Penguin: No, Jazz has not gotten revenge. You're too morbid my evil penguin friend. Okay, that's just gross. Of course, you never did like the whole threesome thing, so I don't know who's more perverted, me or you. Ha, guess we'll see.

Chapter Five

Tuesday Morning

"Danny!" Jazz cried happily.

Danny dropped the pop can he was holding and it splashed against the floor. Sam jumped off of him, staring back and forth between the two siblings.

"I've been looking for you," she said, pulling her brother into a hug. Tears ran down her cheeks.

Danny wasn't sure what to say, or do, so he just let her hug him. The sudden appearance had surprised him. He wasn't ready to confront her yet.

"How did you find me?" he managed to choke out.

She dug around in her jacket pocket and pulled out a small, credit card shaped room key. "I found it in your room."

He ran his fingers through his hair, angry at himself. It must have dropped out of his pocket when he had tripped.

"Who's this?" Jazz choked out, referring to Sam.

Sam held out her hand, her other wrapped around Danny's arm. "I'm Sam Manson," she said.

"Are you a friend of Danny's?" she asked, surprised. She'd never known her brother had girl friends.

"What do you want Jazz?" he interrupted.

"I was hoping we could talk," she said, turning her attention back to him.

Sam bit her lip nervously. So this was Jazz. That's why her newly found love was suddenly distant, his face pale.

"Why don't you come in Jazz?" she suggested. "I'll leave you two to talk for a while." She didn't want to leave Danny, he suddenly appeared so vulnerable, but what was going on between them was none of her business.

Danny let go of his grip on the door handle. He stepped aside awkwardly and let her come inside. He turned desperately to Sam, his eyes apologetic.

"Don't worry about it, I'll go somewhere for a while. Entertain myself. If you're still in the mood we can go see what movies are out," she said. "I'll see you later. I know where to find you." She smiled and kissed his cheek, then walked out the door. He closed it behind her, swallowing hard, not facing his sister.

"Apparently you guys are more than friends," Jazz commented, watching them. "She seems nice. But why are you sharing a room?"

"There was no single rooms available," he replied shortly.

He crossed over, past her, to his bed and sat down, running his hands through his black hair.

"About the other night, I'm really sorry." she said.

This was the exact conversation he hadn't wanted to start. He'd know what she'd say. They'd probably just start fighting again.

"Danny, please listen to me," she pleaded. He didn't look up, his head in his hand. "Daniel?"

"Please don't call me that," he said.

She tried a giggle. "I'd figure that'd snap you out of it. You always hated that," she said. "Look, we both said things we regret. Especially me. I just was angry, and then you told me what you were-"

"What I am? What am I an alien from another planet?" he asked furiously. "I'm half human you know."

She sighed. "That's not what I meant. I just, wasn't sure how to react, I mean, it's a shock. I can't believe you kept it from me for this long. And I can't believe I didn't figure it out before. Especially with the whole public enemy thing. How long have you been this way?"

"Three years. I came home from school and they were working on the Fenton Portal. I was electrocuted, and now I'm half ghost," he explained.

"You were fourteen and you went through that?" she asked, amazed. She sat down in front of him on Sam's bed.

"It was okay. Having powers was cool. The ghosts I fought weren't too fun, but I'm used to it by now," he said.

There was a moment of silence and Jazz sighed.

"It's alright to talk about her you know. It doesn't bother me," she said gently.

"Yeah, well I don't want to," he said.

"You admitted something to me, that you've kept for so long. Two things in fact. You've kept that guilt all this time. And I was so involved with trying to do something to help, I didn't notice," she said.

He didn't say anything again. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Tell me what happened, please," she begged.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said. He got up again and started pacing in front of the tv. Couldn't she use her intelligence right now? Why wouldn't she leave and leave him alone?

"Danny, I know what you're thinking, and I'm sorry, but I can't," she said.

"Can't what?"

"You underestimate me. I can't leave unless you come with me," she said. "You have no idea how much I've worried about you. I've been searching for you for the last twenty four hours. It was you I heard in your room, moving around. When I went up there, you were gone, but I found the key."

"I want to stay here."

His words hung in the air, not communicating with Jazz.

"What?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

"I'm happy with Sam, we're going out now," he said.

"You've known this girl for how long?" she asked. "Danny, I want you to come home. Please."

"Come home to what, you staring at me like I'm some sort of insect? Come home to you always checking up on me? Hell, pretty soon there might be one of your psychologists waiting for me when I get home from school one day," he said.

There was a knock at the door, and without waiting for a reply, a girl walked in, and stopped when she saw them.

"Hey, where's Sam?" Karissa asked, staring around.

"She left somewhere. You might want to try her on a cell phone or something," Danny suggested, not caring that he sounded rude.

Karissa laughed, something that sounded very evil. "Sam, have a cell phone? Yeah, right, do you know where she went?" For the first time, she seemed to notice Jazz, still sitting on the bed. "Hi."

"Hello," Jazz greeted back nervously.

"Who are you?" she asked, walking over to the heater by the window. They heard her muttering something like, "it's freaking cold in here. I hate cold."

"I'm Danny's sister, Jazz," she replied.

She pressed a button and the heater began humming. She stood up and smiled. "I'm Karissa Spectra."

_Spectra. _For the second time that day, Danny felt the odd sensation of déjà vu. Hadn't he heard that name before?

"I'm starving," she said, clutching not her stomach, but her head.

"Go eat something," Danny snapped. He didn't have time for this. Why couldn't they all just leave him alone?

The lights overhead flickered as his thoughts grew angrier. Jazz and Karissa stared upwards then turned back to him, both wearing identical looks of suspicion.

He sighed. "Look, Sam's not here. She'll be back later, can you leave us alone for a while?" he asked.

She stared at him, an expression he couldn't read on her pretty face. She smiled. It was too bad he didn't read thoughts.

"Okay….I'll catch you later Danny," she said sexily.

He nodded, astounded at her normal sounding tone. She didn't seem to mind his hostile mood, that or was ignorant of it.

"Nice to meet you Jazz," she said, before walking out the door.

Jazz waited for a second before speaking. "Danny, that was rude."

"Yeah, well I don't care," he said.

"Do you want to talk?" she asked.

"About what?"

"Tell me what happened," she demanded. Before he spoke, she cut him off. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know, so please tell me."

He stared up at the ceiling, leaning back on his bed again. She crawled over next to him, lying on her stomach.

"I'm here to listen."

"Fine."

He paused a minute, unsure of where to begin, and so he just started talking. "We were going to pick you up. We were just talking, and this truck didn't see the light or stop sign or whatever and headed towards us. I have this power called intangibility. It's the ability to not be seen or touched. I would rather expose myself than have anything happen to us, so I tried to turn us both intangible. But she pulled away and then the truck hit. I don't remember how it happened, but the next thing I knew, I was rolling in the middle of the road."

Jazz had tears in her eyes again. "That's why they were amazed. The truck hit the passenger side, and everyone was amazed at how you lived. How the worst thing that happened to you was a few bruises and a broken arm."

He rolled over, turning away from her.

"I'm so sorry, you were right, I don't have a clue what happened," she said. "But you were wrong about something. Danny, you aren't to blame for it."

"Really? You mean, other than the fact that she died because I wasn't quick enough? Because I was too stupid and clumsy to move faster?" He punched his pillow angrily.

"But you tried. And even though you failed, you succeeded in a way because you saved yourself."

"I don't care about myself. She didn't-" He broke off, unable to finish.

"You aren't to blame!" she urged. She tried to hug him, but he shrugged her off. She wiped the tears from her face and tried a new approach.

"Come home with me. We'll talk to dad. He'll understand. Maybe he can help you," she suggested.

"Help me with what?" he asked, confused.

"Get you back to normal," she said.

"What?" He rolled back over and sat up to face her.

"Well, don't you want to be normal? Take the load off for a while. Maybe that will help you. Starting from scratch as someone without powers."

"No. Jazz, I get the ghosts that try to kill us. Who's going to do that if not me? It's my job," he said, mortified at the thought of losing the one thing that'd been constant in his life. The powers he had finally learned to get control of and were powerful. The reputation he'd earned himself as a ghost fighter, and at the same time, Public Ghost Enemy 1.

"There's other people out there. Come on, let's go home. You need a break," she said, standing up.

She reached for his hand and he remained still, not taking it.

"Aren't you coming?"

"No."

"What? Why not?"

"I'm staying with Sam."

"Danny, you barely know her, for God's sake," she cried, throwing her hands up.

"I don't care. I…-"

"What, love her?" she asked. "Danny, you can't fall in love with someone over a time period of twenty four hours."

"I disproved that theory, cause I do. Sam and I are a couple now. I'm sorry if you can't accept that," he said, making sure he layered the sarcasm in his voice.

"I have no problem with the fact that you have a girlfriend. I'm thrilled. But you don't know her."

"What do you think she's some escaped convict?" he asked.

"That's not what I said. Danny, don't try to turn this into some kind of joke. You've always done that when you want to avoid facing something."

"It's worked for a long time too," he added.

She stood up and started to the door. He followed her, just like she'd hoped he would. She stopped, her hand on the door handle.

"Let's go home Danny. If you tell me more about Sam, I might give in. But right now, dad and I need you home."

She opened the door smiling. He looked convinced. She smiled encouragingly. Maybe she was getting good at this whole psychology thing.

"I'll wait out here while you get your things. Unless you want me to help you pack," she said. She stepped out onto the hallway.

"No."

"What?" she asked.

"I'm not coming with you."

"Danny-" she started.

"Goodbye Jazz," he said, before closing the door on her.

She cussed aloud. He'd lured her into his trick. And she couldn't get back in because she'd sat the key down on the tv.

She took a few, calming breaths. Calm down Jazz. Come back later. Maybe then he'll calm down. Give him some space for a while.

She turned to go, confident it would work if she left him alone for a while. He'd give in after a while. He'd have to return home sometime.

Two hands grabbed her roughly from behind and her high pitched scream was cut off as something was pressed against her mouth.

The smell of whatever it was, had an extremely strong aroma to it. She knew what it was from watching tv shows too much. It was chloroform.

She kicked out blindly and one pair of hands pulled at her neck, snapping the gold chain. She couldn't see whoever it was, but their grip only grew stronger, pressing the cloth hard against her nose and mouth.

A wave of exhaustion passed over her and she collapsed.

"Take her to the Square. She can be of good use to us."

-

"Sam!" Karissa shouted, running up to her Gothic best friend.

"Karissa, what are you doing here?" Sam asked, not pretending not to be surprised. She was sitting down in the hotel's free area, listening to the football game (which she really didn't care about, there was another guy in there) and working on some of her new lyrics. She couldn't just sing other peoples' songs if she was going to do this. She had to make herself unique.

"Looking for you. Danny told me you were out," she said, sitting down beside her.

"Yeah. I didn't really want to be in the way between them," she said.

"Who, Jazz? She seems nice," she commented.

"Uh huh," she said, clicking her pen.

"So what'd you do this morning?" she asked.

"I met Danny's friend Tucker. He's really nice. We had breakfast together," she replied. She brushed back her hair from her face.

"Really? Cool. I'll have to meet him sometime," she said. "Sam, I was being nice last night, but your mom called me this morning." She leaned closer as Sam's amethyst eyes widened.

"Why would she call you?" she asked.

"She figured you would be over at my house," she said.

"You didn't tell her where I was, did you?" There was hopefulness and desperation in her tone.

"Would I do that?" Karissa asked, in mock hurt.

"Yes." It was plain and simple. Karissa was a blabbermouth.

"Thanks," she said sarcastically. "But no, I didn't tell her where you were. I know you're mom. She'd freak if she knew you spent the night here. Especially with a total stranger."

"Only add onto to the death price I have to pay if I ever go home," Sam said. "I don't want to go home."

"You don't have to you know, you can stay with me," Karissa suggested.

"I'll think about it," Sam said. She had promised to stay with Danny. She couldn't leave now. But if she told her best friend what she was doing, she'd be crushed. So she could just pretend to think it over and then tell her the truth.

"Now, tell me what's going on," she said..

"What are you becoming my therapist?" Sam asked, laughing.

"Ha, and become my mother? I don't think so," she said. "I'm just trying to help." She placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and Sam suddenly wished this would all go away. Every memory came flooding back to her, every pain, every word they'd said. It came abruptly and once she started talking, she couldn't stop.

"Remember that concert we were going to go to? The Three Doors Down one? Well, I asked her about it and she was being a total bitch and wouldn't let me go. So I said dad would have let me gone and then she started ranting. Made up this total lie that the reason they were divorced was because he cheated on her."

"It could be true," Karissa said gently.

"No!" Sam insisted. "My dad would not do that."

"Okay…I'm sorry I suggested it. Come here, you poor baby," she said, pulling Sam into a hug.

She suddenly felt like bursting into tears. But she didn't; she forced herself not to. Karissa breathed in deeply, as if satisfied and pulled away.

Sam looked at her best friend, happy to have her. Karissa almost looked prettier; younger. Her red hair didn't seem so frizzy, her green eyes more livelier. She was really pretty.

"Let's not talk about this any more," she said.

"I'm sorry," she said, sniffling. But she would not let herself cry.

"It's alright. You're miserable, it's understanding. But misery is what makes us strong, right?" she said.

"Now you really sounding like your mother," Sam said, laughing again.

"Oh, no you didn't," Karissa said, suddenly sounding ghetto. "I'm going to remember that," she warned.

"I was kidding…." she assured her.

"Do you think Danny's done talking with his sister?" Sam asked, wanting to return to him badly. She felt devastated without him, even though she was trying to help.

"I say we let him try to find us," she suggested. "Just in case. Speaking of which, what was the kiss you two shared last night about?"

Sam bit her lip. A sudden distrust and instinct told her to lie. She didn't know why. But she knew if she told Karissa her feelings for him, she would only laugh and say it wouldn't last. Karissa probably thought he was some kind of pervert or something anyway.

"Oh, just the spur of the moment thing," she lied.

"So you two don't like each other?" she asked.

"No," she said. Why was she lying to her best friend? She didn't know. But she couldn't find the courage to tell her.

"Really? Cool," she said, smiling. She looked like a model, sitting there gracefully and posed. She bounced a curl back into place by pulling on it and letting it go.

"What do you mean "cool"?" Sam asked, confused.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked, leaning down towards her again. She couldn't help but notice the odd glint in Karissa's piercing green eyes.

"Sure."

"And you won't tell anyone? Secret Safe again?" she asked, bringing up their little secret pact they'd made in first grade together.

"Secret safe," Sam promised, wondering what she was getting at.

"Okay, I'll tell you."

She leaned down so close their faces were almost touching and whispered excitedly into her ear.

"I'm completely and totally in love with Danny."

-

Ha! Were any of you expecting that? Compared to the last chapter, this one's actually short. So right now this is how it's going. Danny's turned his back on his family; Jazz has been captured by someone unknown; and Sam and Karissa are now in love with the same sweet guy!

Priceless. Coming soon is chapter six! Please RR!

Lateraina Wolf


	6. One Of These Days

Hello! Lateraina back with what seems like the billionth update. Probably isn't. Anyway….Just so you know….this story was just a test, to see how you would like it. I wasn't sure if it was going to last, so I'm glad you like it. I'm starting to have fun with it….. if that brings you any future head to what's coming up.

This is another long chapter, but I actually included a sneak peek down at the bottom, like I've done with the other stories I updated, so I hope you like that.

These episodes have been cancelled for this story.

Mystery Meat: If Sam wouldn't have changed the menu, the cafeteria lady would have never came.

Parental Bonding: If Paulina hadn't tried to lure Danny away from Sam…

One of A Kind: Same- no gorilla obviously

Attack of the Killer Garage Sale: Same

Splitting Images: Same

What You Want: Same

Bitter Reunions: Same

Prisoners of Love: Same

My Brother's Keeper: Never happened for this story- but has nothing to do with Sam

Shades of Gray: same

Fanning the Flames: never happened

Teacher of the Year: Same

13: Same

Public Enemies: Same

Lucky In Love: Same

Maternal Instincts: Same

Life Lessons: Same—Tucker paired up with another girl

One more note, for all of you who have read Flash, you'll see a familiar band name and a song reintroduced. Yes, I made up the song, but it's the only one. But I like it, and I hope you do to.

Thanks to my reviewers! Oh, and to all of you that asked…Karissa is the daughter of Spectra, not Spectra herself.

Blondedevil: Danny doesn't want Sam to react the same way Jazz did.

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet (x5): Sweet and simple, really? Probably right. But I was just trying to get into the whole desire aspect. And yeah, I did move Sam a little fast. I'll try and slow it down if I get the chance.

Caz33, mish, Sahira Flame, The Fuzy Llama, cakreut12, LaBOBuren, the Druidess, Danny Phantom Lover, SashaTheSheWolf, fatlazikat, NickelbackxDannyxLover, ChibiSess, Penguin, Mr. BB, Dannys-Ghostlygirl, Hopeless Forever, Yayfulness, kitty00240, Divagurl277

Disclaimer: I don't own the song Broken, Seether with Amy Lee do./ I don't own "Bring Me To Life," Evanescence does.

Claimer: I own the song "Take Me Away."

Chapter Six

One of these Days

Sam's hand went numb and she dropped the black pen. IT clattered against the table, seeming to be super loud suddenly in her ears.

"What?" she managed to choke out. Fear gripped her. Karissa had _always _gotten the guy she wanted. She felt stupid for not telling her the truth and was about to when her fire red haired friend spoke in answer to her question.

"He's just…..so fascinating, compelling. Rebel, rocker, knows how to make a girl laugh. And he's totally gorgeous. Those intense blue eyes…oh, I could go on. Besides that, did you check out that six pack he's got? Umm….give me a taste of that," she said, licking her glossed, shiny lips.

"He has a girlfriend," she blurted. She wasn't going to lose him now. Especially not to her best friend.

Karissa shrugged, wiggling her eyebrows. She didn't seem to notice Sam's sudden outburst. "Not for long…"

"Why do you do that?" she snapped angrily. A fire red fury had awakened inside her, and now she couldn't hold her thoughts in.

She was apparently taken aback. "Do what?"

"Steal other people's boyfriend? They find a love, their hearts join, and you come in and just tear them apart," she said.

"Sam, what do you mean?"

"You're a slut, that's what I mean," she said. She gasped at her daring. How harsh the words had come out.

Karissa's eyes narrowed angrily and she sat back, pulling away from her. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me," Sam said.

"You like him, don't you?" she asked. "That's why you don't want me to have him. You do know that little puppy dog kiss you shared last night was probably just some spur of the moment thing. I've seen the way he looks at me, it's nothing compared to how he looks at you."

"Maybe I do," Sam admitted.

"Exactly. But….I just want to try him out for a while," she said. "Then, if I don't like him, you can have him."

"That's not going to happen. Danny and I are already a couple," she said.

"Yeah, right," Karissa smirked. "Like you've ever had a boyfriend besides Mark."

"Leave Mark out of this," Sam said, feeling anticipation in her heart at the name. Mark had been her first boyfriend….one she had loved until he had tried to kill her.

"You just can't get him out of your head, can you?" Karissa tormented. "How compassionate he was, how beautiful he was….and then he just—"

"Shut up!" Sam yelled.

Before she knew it, anger was coursing through her, and she had leapt on top of her best friend, pinning her to the ground.

Karissa shrieked, landing hard on the ground. Sam lost her balance, and she seized the chance to throw her aside. They crashed, rolling on top of each other, around and around, right into the table, and it fell over them, but they didn't care.

Soon they heard shouting in the background, and someone was pulling Sam off of Karissa, but she wouldn't allow it, and fought back. Karissa did the same, picked up a piece of broken wood from the table, and threw it as hard as she could towards the struggling girl, while Sam, elbowed her holder.

The two hands holding her let go immediately, and she felt whoever it was collapse beside her. She turned around, and gasped.

It was Danny.

He looked up at her, his blue eyes filled with pain. She leaned down, salty tears already streaming down her face.

"Danny, I'm so sorry," she said, hugging him tightly. He stroked her hair gently, and she pulled back. "Are you alright? Oh!"

She saw blood streaking his arm, where a small piece of wood was lodged. He tugged it out, and grimaced in pain.

"We need to get you to a hospital," she said.

Karissa broke free of her captor, and tumbled to the ground on the other side of him. "What happened?"

"Jazz left, so I came down here to find you, and you were fighting," Danny said, answering the easier question. It wasn't like they didn't know what had just happened.

"We need to get him to a hospital," Sam said again.

"I'll be fine," he said. Already he could feel tingling within his wounded arm. "I'll go clean up real quick." He stood up, and a wave of dizziness came over him, but he shook his head and it cleared.

"Danny, you shouldn't be standing," Sam said gently, her hand in his.

"He'll be fine. Let him do what he wants Sam," Karissa ordered, staring at her darkly.

"I'll be right back," he said, taking off.

"I'll go with you," Sam said.

He thought about it a minute, and then nodded. She took his hand again, and without a backwards glance towards Karissa, they began walking.

Danny tried to hurry, but he knew Sam would question if he raced, so he let her lead him to the bathroom.

"I'll wait out here," she said.

Danny stared back at the reflection of himself and felt another tingling sensation in his left arm—as it healed itself. It was a power he'd received less than two months ago. However, blood still caked his arm, and he wiped it off with a paper towel. It was the same reason he no longer had the scratch from his bike's accident yesterday.

But how on earth was he supposed to explain that his arm was suddenly fine to Sam? He supposed he could hide it, but it was too far down to hide beneath his sleeve.

In the end, he tore off a piece of his shirt near the bottom, and tied it to a fake spot. Then at least it wouldn't be too obvious. He was glad no one was in there. He walked out of the bathroom, to find Sam still waiting for him.

He smiled and she tried hard to smile, but it didn't work.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

He pulled her to him, and she leaned her head against his chest. "It's okay. I don't think you did it anyway. However, you did elbow me pretty hard," he joked.

She laughed. "I was just so angry, and I didn't know it was you."

"What happened?" he asked, stroking her hair again.

"Oh, Karissa was just being herself. I guess I just lost it," she said. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

"You seemed to be okay last night," he said.

"I know. But, she just made me so mad," she said. She pulled away a few inches so that she could look into his eyes. His beautiful….baby blue eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she said again.

"It's okay," he assured her. He kissed her gently on the lips, and she smiled, giving in. She wrapped her fingers around his neck and kissed him this time, making it last longer.

When they pulled away, Sam giggled.

"I can't believe we just met yesterday. It seems such a long time ago," she said.

Danny was surprised. It did seem like a while ago that they had met. So many things had happened since then. Now they were in love….and were showing it.

"Yeah," he said, stupidly. "Are we going to go catch a movie?"

"Sure. It sounds good," she said. Going somewhere with Danny. Sounded really good.

"Oh, yeah, we were going to go sign up for that band job," he said, remembering.

"We can do that afterwards, or we can do that now. But Wake the Dead stays open longer," she said.

"Good point. Okay, movie—"

He stopped when there was a sudden high pitched noise echoing from behind them. They turned around to see a guy wearing a long, black trench coat over black jeans and a black turtleneck. His hair was raven colored, his eyes a deep brown. In his hands was some sort of small PDA looking object, that was making the beeping noise. The man glanced over at them, then returned to staring at it, a look of disbelief on his face.

"What's his problem?" Sam whispered.

"Don't know. He looks creepy," Danny said.

"He's probably from that Sci-Fi convention they're holding," Sam said. "Maybe he's one of those bounty hunters that kills werewolves, vampires, and ghosts and stuff like that."

Danny faked an uneasy laugh. He prayed that she was wrong.

"Let's go…" he said, trying to sound calm.

"Okay," she said.

They started walking, and Sam found Danny's hand in hers, and interlaced her fingers with his. He grinned, looking away to hide his blush.

God….he really hadn't ever felt this way.

"Hey!" shouted a voice.

For a minute, they didn't realize they were being called as they were too busy staring into each other's eyes, but then they heard chanting.

"Heretero nemoa!" he shouted.

Something hit Danny hard and sent what felt like thousands of nails piercing him all over his body. He cried out, and collapsed to his knees.

"I knew it! You are one of them!" the man that had been watching one of them. "If you were normal, that spell wouldn't have affected you!"

"Danny!" Sam said. She stood up angrily. "Who the hell are you?"

He came up to her, breathing heavily, and staring at Danny who was twitching on his knees in disgust. He glanced over at Sam. "Come with me and get away from him."

"Hey, back off!" she said.

He glared. "You're one of them too, aren't you?"

"One of what? What in the hell are you talking about? Who do you think you are?" Sam's anger flared again and she threw out her fist and punched the stranger in the face.

Danny felt slightly relieved of his pain as the guy reeled backwards. Standing up, pinpricks still etched in his skin, but they were duller.

"Why are you protecting him?" he asked, holding his noise. "He's dangerous."

There was a moment of silence, and Sam dared to turn her head slightly to face Danny. "What is he talking about?" she asked in a barely audible whisper.

"I don't know," Danny said, not taking his eyes off the man.

"Of course he knows. He knows exactly what I'm talking about," he said, staring up at him darkly, his vision blurry.

"Look, I don't know who you are, and I don't care. Leave us alone," Sam said.

"Whatever. You just wait… you just wait," he said. With his words, he whipped around, and there was a flash of silver metal near his belt, and stalked off the other direction.

Danny felt the pain totally dissipate, his body returning to normal. But now his head was a mess. There had to be ghost hunters…now. And Sam was probably suspicious of him….now.

"Shall we?" Sam asked, smiling at him.

Danny was surprised. He'd been expecting distrust….anger…..even fear, but there was no trace of either on her pretty face. In fact, she looked quite happy.

"Are you alright?" she asked him, coming over and hugging him.

He nodded, enjoying the warm embrace. "We should get to the movie. Get away from here and these weird people, whoever they are."

"Cool. I think I've had enough adventure for one day. Nearly getting kicked out of a hotel, getting into a wrestling match with Karissa, and now…this, whatever it was," she said.

They started walking again… He could sense the danger was gone, for now, but he still couldn't help but look over his shoulder as they exited the lobby.

ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

"Catch!" Sam said, tossing a piece of movie popcorn to him. He opened his mouth just in time, and he caught it. She giggled, latching onto his arm and shoving a handful into her own mouth.

"So you liked the movie?" he asked, putting an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer. She squeezed him tightly, both arms (one of which was carrying a bag of popcorn) around his waist.

"Cursed is awesome. I've wanted to see it since it came out," she said.

"You mean yesterday?" he asked, laughing.

"I rest my case," she said.

They walked in the parking lot, and Danny got the first sight of her Mustang parked lonely in the darkness.

"I still can't believe you have a Mustang," he said incredulously.

She shrugged. "I mainly wanted it because of the color and the sound system." She looked over at him curiously. "What do you drive?"

"A motorcycle. Tucker calls it a crotch rocket," he said. "It's in the auto shop right now."

"A crotch rocket?" she asked. Her turn to laugh. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"He thinks it's funny…" he stammered. "How it sits…..you kind of lean forward, and for guys…well you catch my drift."

She laughed. "I knew what it meant, I just wanted to hear you say it."

"Oh, thanks," he said, sarcastically.

She laughed hard, and gasped when a red Ferrari pulled up in front of them, barely missing them by an inch. They both jumped backwards, right in time.

The tinted windows rolled down and Karissa poked her curly red hair out. There was another guy inside with her, sitting in the passenger seat. Both couldn't figure out why he looked so familiar, but they'd seen him before.

"!Hola!" she greeted, glaring at Sam and then focusing her gaze on Danny. "Coming from the theatre?" she asked.

"Yeah, we just watched Curse," Danny said shortly. He noticed the looks the two girls kept giving each other, and he really didn't want a showdown here in the parking lot.

"Curse? She got you into that werewolf, Satanist crap?" she asked.

"I like it," he said. He felt Sam go rigid with anger, her grip on his waist tightening. "It was a really awesome movie."

There was a sudden noise in the background, and then someone's muffled voice. Karissa glanced backwards quickly, and nodded her head for whoever it was beside her to take care of it.

"See you later baby," she said.

Karissa pulled off, and they heard a thumping in the back of her car, but nothing seemed to be broken on the outside of her car.

Sam seemed to be ignoring it at least. "Oooh, she's getting on my last nerve."

"She does seem kind of harsh suddenly," he said.

"She'll be the one to apologize first. She always does. I never apologize. I hold grudges," she said bitterly.

"Okay…" Danny said gently.

"Not on you," she assured him. "You haven't done anything." She stepped closer so that she was right in front of him. Leaning up, she kissed the tip of his nose. "I could probably never be angry at you." She took his hand, and led him over to her car.

He climbed in the passenger seat and she turned on the engine, pressing the gas so that the engine made a purring noise. She enjoyed the look she saw on Danny's face.

"Wake the Dead?" she asked.

"Wake the Dead," he said. He made sure his guitar was still on the backseat, and smiled. He hadn't heard her sing before. He betted it would be great.

"Danny?" she asked, her knuckles flexing on the steering wheel as she turned left.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"The guy that attacked us. What did he do to you?" she asked.

He swallowed nervously. This was the conversation he'd been expecting. But it wasn't like he could keep something from her….save for his ghost powers. He wanted to wait a while before he told her about them.

"I'm not sure," he replied honestly. "All of a sudden, it just felt like I was being stabbed everywhere, except there wasn't any marks."

"What was he talking about? He said you were dangerous, and I don't believe him of course, but I'm just confused on what he was talking about."

"I'm not dangerous. I could never hurt you or anyone else," he admitted.

"I didn't think so. But still….he said, "you were one of them." What did that mean?" she asked. He suddenly appeared to be uncomfortable and she realized she was prying too much. Maybe he did have a secret. Maybe he had a different religion, like her, and that guy was some Christian obsesser. That would explain why the strange man had accused her of being one too. She shrugged. "If I'm being too personal, you don't have to answer. It's really none of my business."

"No…it's just—" he stopped, collecting his thoughts.

She waited for him to finish, and at the same time, pulled into a parking spot at Wake the Dead. He took her hand as she was reaching for the keys to turn off the ignition. Staring into each other's eyes, his blue eyes were desperate.

"Listen…there is something I have that I keep secret. I promise I'll tell you, but not right now. I have to work out a few things first," he said.

It was not the statement she was looking for, but he was being honest, so she'd be patient. She gave him a smile and nodded. "I'll wait as long as you need."

He looked out and saw the dark building looming ahead of them, rock music blaring from inside. Nerves began to catch up with him. He watched as two Gothic girls walked into the building.

"Ready?" she asked. God, she was so nervous.

"Ready as I'll ever be," he said.

He took her hand and kissed it and she titled her head and they leaned across the console and kissed shortly, twice.

"Let's go," she whispered in his ear. She pulled the door open and he did the same, and together they began walking inside.

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"Test run," Naomi said. They'd signed up for auditions, and Naomi was the head. Age twenty three, she had long, curly, black hair, a nose stud and several random tattoos. Her outfit was the usual Goth. Black, one sleeved shirt, short black shirt and black pantyhose. Knee high boots and heavy makeup. Chokers and bracelets adorned her, and she even had several ear piercings. "What can you sing?" Her voice was misty and deep.

"Evanescence, Switchfoot, 3 Doors Down, Seether, Avril Lavigne—" Sam began.

"And what can you play?" she asked, switching to Danny.

"The same thing, except no Avril Lavinge and more 3 Days Grace," he replied.

"Sing Evanescence's song Bring Me To Life, and we'll see how the crowd reacts," Naomi said. "If they like it, you're on."

Sam nodded, slightly overexicitedly, but smiled all the same. Danny grinned and picked up his guitar. That song was the best one he could play for Evanescence.

"You're on in twenty minutes, after Gothito," she said, referring to the band performing, singing a slow ballad called "Take Me Away."

"You might want to change clothes, get ready, etc.," she pointed out.

Sam had brought black leather pants and a lilac shirt that had flames etched onto the bottom that reached up towards the center, and was split at the sleeves near the shoulders, then connected at her wrists. Danny had brought black jeans and a black t-shirt.

Before they headed to separate bathrooms to change, they kissed once, and then ten minutes later appeared for each other to see.

Danny's eyes widened upon seeing her. He had to admit….Sam looked hot.

Sam couldn't find intelligent words even to think. The black tee shirt he was wearing outlined his skinny, but muscular frame, and made him seem deeper….stronger. She turned away before she would do something extreme she would regret.

"Who did Naomi say this band was?" Danny asked, tapping his foot along with the beat.

"Gothito," Sam said. "I've heard of them, but I haven't actually heard them. They're good." She listened to the music. It was already on the second verse.

_"When the night fell, the stars dancing around me. I saw you for the first time. All I thought about was you. I knew you were the one. We were lovers, we loved each other. Then there was a change. You looked at me different, you had changed. I couldn't breathe with you… But then again…. _ _I feel the rush….every time you're near….it seems that I get lost…..inside my fear……of loving you. It seems that I must break the spell…… you're pushing away…..and I can tell…..that you need some space. So I go away and you always come back…..haunting me…..Making me feel like I was forgotten, rotten, I know you never got it, Beaten, mistreated, You know I never need it. So I thank you, for taking me away…(Guitar solo) Taking me away….."_

The crowd burst into applause and Sam felt her nerves jangle. One more song, and then they would be up.

Music started and she recognized it as Seether's Broken. A guy took one mike, and a girl took the other.

_"I wanted you to know…that I love the way you laugh…I wanna hold you high and steal your pain, away. I keep your photograph…and I know it serves me well…I wanna hold you high and steal your pain," _the guy began. The girl placed her microphone up to her mouth and began to sing harmony.

_"Cause I'm broken….when I'm lonesome….and I don't feel right, when you're gone away. You get away….you don't feel me….anymore. The worst is over now. And we can breathe again. I wanna hold you high and steal my pain…away…there's so much left to learn…and no one left to find. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain. Cause I'm broken….when I'm open….and I don't feel like…I am strong enough…Cause I'm broken…..when I'm lonesome….and I don't feel right…when you're gone away…."_

They repeated it two more times, the last chorus shorter like the first, and then ended, and the crowd clapped and cheered again.

The girl and guy smiled and walked off the stage with a manner of pride. They stopped when they saw Danny and Sam.

"Good luck guys," the girl said. "You new here too?" She had black dye covering over her original blonde hair and pretty blue eyes.

"Yeah," Sam said. "I'm Sam."

"I'm Jade. And this is my boyfriend, Seth," she said, pointing to the guy, who had black hair with red streaks and green eyes.

"This is Danny, he's my boyfriend," she said. She loved the way that sounded. My boyfriend. She almost laughed out loud with delight.

"What are you singing?" she asked.

"Bring Me To Life, by Evanescence," Danny replied. He whispered something over to Seth, and he nodded. The girls finished their conversation.

"Ooh, cool. We'll be watching… good luck, and Goddess bless," she said.

"We're Wiccan," Seth explained.

"I figured," Sam said, smiling. These two were friendly. She didn't need to be a wallflower anymore. That's how Karissa had always made her feel. Now she could do her own thing.

Naomi walked up on stage. "Please, welcome our next performers!" she said.

"Ready?" Danny asked. Sam nodded and took his hand. He grabbed his guitar one handed, and they walked up on stage.

The crowd cheered, a huge encouragement. Danny plugged in his guitar and turned the tuners, making sure they were on key.

Sam glanced over at Danny, and he smiled, and she nodded. He began strumming, and at the right time, began to sing.

_"How can you see into my eyes, like open doors. Leading you down into my core, where I've become so numb. Without a soul…my spirit sleeping somewhere cold…until you find it there…and lead it back home…. Wake me up inside…wake me up inside…call my name and save me from the dark…bid my blood to run….before I come undone.. save me from the nothing I've become. Now that I know what I'm without….you can't just leave me…breathe into me…make me real… bring me to life. Wake me up inside, wake me up inside…call my name and save me from the dark….Bid my blood to run.. before I come undone…save me from the nothing I've become….bring me to life….frozen inside without your touch without your love…darling, only you are the life, among the dead—"_

Sam froze. She hadn't remembered about this part. Did Danny know this was a guy's part? Then she heard deep singing and turning her head quickly, saw Danny playing guitar…but his mouth wasn't moving… but the words were there…so she had to sing.

_"All this time I can't believe I couldn't see, kept in the dark but you were there in from of me."  
"I've been sleeping a thousand times it seems. Got to open my eyes to everything."_

_"Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul."_

Sam heard an eerie echo behind her next words. _"Don't let me die here…"_

_"There must be something more—"_

_"Bring me to life….Wake me up inside…wake me up inside…call my name and save me from the dark. Bid my blood to run…before I come undone…save me from the nothing I've become….bring me to life...bring me to life (I've been living a lie…there's nothing inside) Bring me to life……."_

She took a deep breath at the longest note, and finished nicely. The crowd erupted into cheers and Danny stood up, wiping sweat from his head. She looked at him questionably, and he grinned, raising his eyebrows.

Naomi stepped up to them and Sam handed over the microphone. "Give it up for Sam Manson and Danny Fenton!" she said. The crowd cheered and she couldn't help but smiling. Danny took her hand and kissed it, and carrying his guitar, they walked off stage.

"That was awesome!" Jade said, coming up to greet them. She and Seth had come from the side of the stage.

"Thanks…but I'm totally lost. Was that you singing?" she asked Danny.

"Me sing? Ha," he said, laughing. "No, I asked Seth to back you up, cause I forgot about that part."

"I was doing the echoes. We wanted to make your first time up there great," she said.

"Wow, thanks," she said.

"You were totally awesome dude," Seth said. "Where did you learn how to play guitar?"

"I actually taught myself, and my friend Tucker looked up ways how on the internet," he said.

"And where did you learn how to sing exactly like Amy Lee? That was awesome. But I'm not saying you copied her, cause you had your own rhythm, but wow…what would I give to sing like that," Jade said.

"You do sing like her. At least you did in Broken," Sam said.

"Really?" she asked. She stretched her arms over her head, and looked between them. "Wanna go eat somewhere?"

"It's almost eleven o'clock," Sam pointed out.

"Steak and Shake is open twenty four hours," Jade said.

"Oooh, I'm in the mood for a chili 5 way," Seth said. Danny cracked a smile over at Sam and she felt her heart beat faster.

"Okay. Sounds good," she gave in.

"Sam, Daniel," said a voice.

Naomi walked over to them, holding something in her hand. Danny ignored his real name once again. She stood next to Sam, and handed her something.

"Congratulations, you did it," she said proudly.

Sam opened it up, one of the ends was taped together, and her jaw dropped. "Fifty dollars? For our first night?" Danny's eyes went wide.

"You made a great first impression," she said. "Come here Friday night, and you can expect that to be tripled," she said.

"That's our night too," said Jade.

"Thanks," Sam said, amazed.

"No, thank you," Naomi said. She walked back over to her office and they could see her talking to someone in black. (Figured)

"So let's go celebrate," Seth said. "You in?"

Danny looked at Sam. "We're in."

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"This calls for celebration," Sam said, curving her hand so that it was resting on his shoulder. He strengthened his grip on her legs, as she was sitting on his back, piggy back style again.

Now that it was nearly one o'clock in the morning, they were just now getting into the hotel. Jade and Seth had bought food for everyone, and they'd made new friends. In a way, she was happy. She could make friends without Karissa. She just couldn't believe she'd waited this long to realize it.

"As in?" he asked, smiling.

"Want to see what I have in my suitcase," she asked giggling.

His hand slipped rapidly and he just about dropped her, but managed to recover just as fast. Still walking, he chanced to turn his head for a millisecond to look at her face. "What?" he asked.

"It's just a vial of Vodka, what's wrong—" she began. She raised an eyebrow and burst into laughter. "Danny Fenton, get your mind out of the gutter."

"I've been hanging out with Seth and Tucker too much," he said, thinking about how Seth had been so humorously perverted while they were playing Truth or Dare. Of course, that had been twenty minutes before they'd been kicked out and told to go home. He laughed, blushing.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing. He followed her finger to the floor where there was something tiny and gold resting near the edge of the wall.

Sam jumped off of him and walked over to it, picking it up gently.

"Jazz," she whispered." She handed it to him. "Isn't that your sister's name?"

He took the object from her hand carefully and saw that it was a golden chain with a pendant the same color, spelling out, "Jazz" in cursive.

He automatically knew it was his sister's, considering he'd been the one who had given it to her on her seventeenth birthday. He'd had it special ordered, since Jazz wasn't a common name, and his older sister had treasured it, and had even worn it to the Homecoming Dance—two weeks before the accident.

He noticed the clasp was broken, as if it had been ripped from her neck and a surge of anger shot through him. Was she really so angry with him that she'd done it on purpose? He decided it was probably true.

Well, if she wanted to break him so easily from her life, then he'd do the same to her. But—he pocketed the chain anyway and swallowed hard.

"You alright?" Sam asked, taking his hand.

He nodded and pulled her close, feeling his anger melt away in her embrace. "What were you saying?" he whispered in her ear.

"I snuck a little bottle of Vodka when I ran away," she said. "I figured I could got get us some Virgin Bloody Maries from the bar and then we could party."

"Vodka huh?" he asked. "'Tis good."

"Why Mr. Fenton, have you been drunk before?" she asked.

"No, but that doesn't mean I haven't had alcohol before," he admitted. "You're not planning on getting drunk are you?"

"You're just expecting the weirdest things tonight aren't you?" she teased. "I don't have that much to get us drunk."

"Well, I know that, I just—" he stuttered.

"Uh….huh," she said sarcastically. "I tell you what. I'll go get the drinks if you start a movie up for us."

"Deal," he said. He wasn't a people person anyway.

She gave him a quick kiss, then another before smiling. "I'll be right back. Don't start without me."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said.

She laughed, kissed him once more, then started skipping down the hall before disappearing around the corner.

Danny remained in the hallway, staring after her, dazed, then shook his head, grinning. He took his key from his back pocket and walked into the room after unlocking it.

Taking a leap onto his bed, he threw off his coat and picked up the remote control. Then he pressed the buttons to get him to the Movie Menu, trying to think of what they might want to watch.

The door clicked open and he leaned his head up, still staring at the tv.

"Back already?" he asked.

"You know I'd never leave you baby."

Danny nearly jumped off the bed. Sitting straight up fast, he stared into Karissa's pretty face.

"The door was open," she explained.

"God, you scared the hell out of me," he said, standing up. He walked over, brushing his hair away from his eyes.

"Sorry," she said, almost sincerely. "Looks like you're doing better." She nodded with her head towards his raised arm.

He'd forgotten that he was supposedly injured when he had last seen her. He put his arm down quickly and she gave him a look she couldn't identify.

"What, do you have healing powers?" she teased, stepping closer to him.

He laughed nervously and tried to keep his voice steady. "Yeah, it's a family inheritance." He tried to put as much sarcasm as possible into the statement.

"Sure about that?" she asked.

"Sam isn't here," he blurted, trying to chance the subject.

"I'm well away of that," she said, taking another step towards him.

"So, so…if you'll come back—" he began.

"You miss her don't you?" Karissa said suddenly.

"What?"

"Your sister, Jazz," she said.

"How do you—what are you—what?' he stammered, too many questions in his head confusing him.

"She's nice. Likes to talk though. But she's really upset. You hurt her Danny, you really did," she said, placing an arm on his shoulder.

In an instant, a wave of dread and depression settled over him like a cloud, smothering him with the memories and reality of all that had happened to him the past two days.

The fact that Jazz wanted to him to get rid of his ghost powers, that she was literally thinking about getting him off her mind by turning on him. How he couldn't tell Sam about his ghost powers; that bounty hunters were swarming the hotel, one of them had already discovered his secret.

It was as if he couldn't remember anything happy. Without knowledge that it ever happened, he had backed up into the desk near the tv and was leaning against it, overwhelmed by emotions.

Through clouded eyes, he saw Karissa take a deep breath, like she was relaxed.

"You should come back later," he pleaded, desperately.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said, placing her other hand on his knee. She leaned closer. "Do you know what the best thing in the world is? Misery. And you're swimming in it…now," she whispered into his ear.

"How much do you really know about Sam, sweetie?" she asked. "Did you know she has a boyfriend?"

He looked up and she nodded sadly. "Yeah, his name is Mark. They've been together for about a year now. Haven't you ever seen the necklace he gave her? Oh, I forgot. You probably haven't. She takes it off in water, otherwise you would have seen it the other night. The rest of the time she keeps it hidden under her shirt."

"You're—you're lying," he said. His head seemed to be splitting in two. On one hand, Karissa knew a lot about Sam where he didn't. On the other, the two girls were fighting, about what, he wasn't sure, but he didn't know how vengeful Karissa was. How far would she go? Was this all some trick.

"Why would I lie to you? I want you to know before you get hurt anymore. That's what we were fighting about earlier. I told her off and she got angry," she said.

Danny stared at her coldly. "No offense Karissa, but I trust Sam, and I don't know whether you're telling me the truth or not, but I'm going to let her decide."

Karissa pulled her arm away from his shoulder, but kept one hand on his knee. "You're right. You're right. I shouldn't be the one to tell you this. She should."

"Okay," he said. He started to slid off, but she sighed and stopped him.

"And I really hoped I wouldn't have to do this," she said. "Then again, screw that. I do."

"Do what?" he began.

She pressed on hand roughly against his shoulder and he smashed hard into the wall behind him. "Hey-"  
"Danny? Shut up," she said, taking one hand and cupping it around his cheek. With a sudden urge, she kissed him passionately on the lips, pressing both hands to his face so he couldn't move away.

And that's when Sam walked through the door.

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I'm bad. Cliffhangers! Ha, I'm evil. Please R&R. In fact, I think I'll give you a sneak peek! Enjoy!

Lateraina Wolf

_Chapter Seven—_

_Sam rubbed her arms against the cold that suddenly hit her. Jeeze, was the hotel always cold? For God's sake, it was winter._

_Maybe she would go up to the room. She just hoped he wouldn't be there. That way she could pack her bags, and leave without a huge confrontation._

_She sighed and opened the door to the stairs and stepped inside. She almost gasped, but clapped a hand over her mouth just in time._

_Danny was standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking around for something, but didn't see her. She didn't dare move. Maybe if she just backed out quietly…._

_Then something happened she never expected. _

_The stairwell was filled with a flash of blue-white light, and the room grew even colder. She turned her head carefully, expecting to see Danny playing with some flashlight._

_Except it wasn't Danny she saw._


	7. Love Me Like That

Hello! I love my reviewers! Thank you for giving me my second set of one hundred reviews! I love you guys so much. In fact, I have my own little surprise for you. For those of you who have read The Elevator Game and have heard about my sequel, not only am I giving you a sneak peek for Hotel Paper, Chapter Eight, but I have a sneak peek for Freeze Out. So enjoy!

Thanks to my reviewers!

Yayfulness, luckygurl185, Catnip070, Threeandfourforever, bbymylove, Sailor Attitude, dannphantomfreak, DannyPhantomLover, DragonGirl, Tuckers-Ghostly-Girl, Amy, getfuzzyfan04, shepyt, Penguin, The Fuzy Llama, ChibiSess, Nickelback-Danny-lover, Hopeless Forever, LaBOBuren, Killer of all Hentai's. BWAHA, cakreut12, Anne Champ aka Obi-Quiet, Grey Ravne North

Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer! Enjoy! By the way, at the beginning of this chapter, it goes back to Sam's point of view before she entered the room and found Danny and Karissa like that.

Chapter Seven

Love Me Like That

Sam walked into the bar, expecting loads of people to glower at her for being in there underage, but luckily, the bar was empty except for the bartender. She automatically recognized him as being the clerk from earlier, his blonde hair giving him away.

"Are you here all the time?" she asked, sitting down on one of the stools.

He laughed and swiped a towel down the counter. "Pretty much. They have me on a tight schedule. I get off around three o'clock."

"Wow. Do you get any sleep?" she asked.

"Not really. Between my father and work," he said, rinsing the towel in a sink under a shiny silver faucet. He wrung it out and then placed his hands on the counter.

"What can I get cha'?" he asked.

"I didn't figure you for twenty one," she said.

"I didn't figure you for twenty one," he retaliated.

"Two virgin bloody maries," she said.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he said, smiling. He pulled out two glasses from underneath the counter. "I'll be twenty two next month."

"You look so young," she blurted.

"I get that a lot," he said, laughing. He put ice in the glasses.

"Troubles with your dad?" she asked, referring to his earlier statement, staring at him.

"Sort of. He and Penelope are plotting something, and of course they won't let me in," he said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Plotting something?"

He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I don't know. I use words like that all the time. I'm sort of a journalist."

"Interesting profession."

"Not as cool as yours," he said.

She stared at him curiously.

"Karissa told me about your performance," he explained.

"Oh. You're a friend of Karissa's?" she asked. He poured a dark liquid into the glasses (that were filled with tomato juice and other ingredients) that she recognized as Tabasco sauce.

"Sort of. More like partners. My dad, Bertrund, is her mother, Penelope's assistant," he said. "So I was kind of forced to follow in his footsteps."

"You were the person I saw coming out of the movie theatre, the one sitting next to her," she realized.

"Yup. Anything else?" he asked, putting two straws in the glass.

"No," she replied. "How much do I owe you?"

"These are on the house, just don't expect the same tomorrow," he said.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "I'll see you around." She picked up the two glasses from the counter and smiled at him, then twirled off the stool and started walking towards the door.

"Oh, and Sam?" he called. She turned around carefully. "Please don't get too drunk. We don't want another exciting night."

"How did—"

"Virgin bloody maries with two teenagers. Come on, I'm weird, not stupid," he said. "But as long as you stay in your room."

"Yeah, that's fine," she said. "Thanks."

"No problem," he said.

She smiled again and walked out of the bar, up the stairs, hoping that none of the security guards around this place would see her and think she was drinking underage…..now.

She opened the door to the floor of her room and entered the hallway and heard voices coming towards her, and pressed against a plant in the corner, hoping they wouldn't see her.

"And you're certain you read that?" a male voice asked.

"Jack, it's your invention. Are you telling me that it's faulty?" asked a familiar voice. She recognized it as the Sci-Fi guy who had attacked Danny. The other voice she'd never heard before.

"What did this kid look like?" he asked.

"Black hair, messy. Had a black shirt on and jeans. I think his eyes changed from blue to green, just like ghosts do when they get angry, depending on their alignment."

_Oh my god, Danny….._ Sam screamed in her head. What did they want with him? What was he hiding that made him so dangerous?

"That's not possible, Jarod," the other voice said.

"Why not?"

"Well, first off, you practically just described my son, and that's not possible," he said.

"Really? You don't think that with all your work, he could have possibly stumbled onto something of your area, and made himself that way?" he asked.

"If he did, he would have told me," he said. "And besides that, both of my children have suddenly disappeared. I have no clue where they are. I would much rather look for them, then go on some ghost chase that you believe is my son. And to help my case, I very much doubt that Danny would ever go to a hotel on his own."

"I still think this needs investigation," Jarod insisted.

"I think my childrens' disappearances need investigating," the voice said.

Sam tried to hide herself as the two men walked towards her, heading towards the stairs. Jarod, the earlier attacker was treading behind a large man in an orange suit that had black hair, flecked with gray, and green eyes. She waited until they were down the stairs until coming out from her hiding place.

"Danny…." She whispered. "What are you hiding?"

She started walking again, to her room, still trying to figure out what the heck was going on. She'd just witnessed people she barely knew, one who could very well be Danny's father, and they were talking about something as odd as ghosts.

Sure, ghosts existed. She knew that after the attack on the city of Amity Park three years ago. Some guy named "Invisi-o-Bill" had ravaged the town. Of course, that was before they'd figured out what his name was by word of mouth of some anonymous person. Something like…Phantom. Danny Phantom. You know, the first name of her boyfriend.

She nearly dropped the glasses, and then laughed at herself. God, she was paranoid. There was no way that her new found love was Danny Phantom, evil ghost boy. She was reading too much. This was real life, not some soap opera.

She kicked open the door with the edge of her foot. She'd left it unlocked on purpose so she could get back in easier. "Hey, Danny, you'll never guess what I just heard."

She stopped and her heart seemed to slow before coming to a cold, dead stop within her chest. She could already feel her head nearly explode with emotions.

Standing in front of her were Karissa and Danny, their lips pressed together in an unmistakable kiss. They jumped as soon as she came in, obviously not expectant of her arrival.

Danny pushed Karissa away from him with his hands, jumping down from the shelf like table he'd been sitting on.

"Sam…this isn't what it looks like, I—" he began hurriedly.

"If I had a dollar for every time I heard a man say that, I'd be richer than Sam. Save it for the movies star boy," Karissa stepped in.

"Shut up!" he yelled. "Sam—"

"Oh, Danny, whatever," Karissa said again.

Sam didn't know what to say. She stood there, confused, hurt, angry, and jealous all at the same time, and then it seemed like her body knew what to do.

"I'll leave you two alone," she felt herself saying sadly, setting down the glasses on the table. She turned to leave, hoping she wasn't crying. She couldn't even feel her own skin if she were to touch it right now; everything was numb.

"Sam—" Danny started again, reaching for her.

She ignored him and pulled open the door, and didn't see Karissa tug at Danny's arm at the same time and pull him backwards.

Karissa pushed him down to the ground with unnatural strength, then sent as many negative energy waves at him as she could, hoping she'd get some more misery….and luckily, she found it. And she'd been the one to cause it. He was devastated about Sam already.

Danny grabbed her leg just as what seemed like a weight pressed on his mind, and she lost her balance and crashed down to the ground beside her.

"What in the hell is your problem?" he asked, seizing the opportunity to stand up. "Do you get your kicks by making me miserable?"

"Well aren't you the smart one?" she said sarcastically, appearing on her feet in one graceful movement.

"What are you?" he asked.

"Just like you baby," she said. "Mom's a ghost, dad's a human. Your story's not like that, but it's pretty close, right?"

"What do you want?"

"I've already got it. I sensed you a long time ago," she said. "And the fact that you used your ghost powers to open the door to get in the pool didn't really help your case."

"So sue me," he snapped. "Why did you do that?"

"Haven't you been listening? For the misery. It's pure gold," she said, shivering with delight. "I've got work to do. And you've got a girl to catch. Unless you don't really want her. I could always be your girl," she said, putting an arm around his shoulder.

He threw her off and prepared to go ghost. There was no way he was going to let her escape and ruin someone else's life.

"Looks like it won't be today. See you later," she said. She vanished into thin air, leaving a dark laugh behind and an odd smelling smoke.

Without waiting another second, he grabbed his coat and dashed out of the door, making sure to lock it behind him and looked around the hallway. He'd decided to find Sam instead. It was top priority right now. He had to straighten things out….

Where would she go? Out of the hotel? Somewhere in the hotel? Wake the Dead? Her house? He cursed himself for not getting to know her better. He barely knew her.

He closed his eyes for a minute, then chose a random direction, hoping that at least someone had seen her. He turned the corner fast, and then ran into something solid.

"Sorry," he said.

"Danny?" said a familiar voice. He looked up and stared into the eyes of Tucker.

"Tucker, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was looking for you," he replied. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go out or something tonight."

"I have to find Sam," he said.

Tucker finally caught his tone. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Karissa is a ghost. She has this weird power that I don't know how it works. And she is also really strong and can teleport," he said.

"Whoa," Tucker said. "You can even do that yet."

"We have to find her," he muttered.

"Who, Sam, or Karissa?" he asked. He fixed his beret, staring absentmindedly at Danny. "Something tells me there's something else."

"I…can't really talk about it," he said. "I'll tell you later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure… do you want me to help you find them?" he asked.

"Actually, that would be great. I need you to look up on your lap top about Karissa Spectra. That's what her last name is," he said. "If you could find anything on her, give it to me. You can work in the room if you want." He dug around his pocket for the key.

"Okay. What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm going to find that bitch," he said, feeling his eyes burn with anger.

"Um…you might want to watch that, you know, the whole eye glowing thing. They've got creepy people running all over this hotel," he warned. "She must have really ticked you off."

"Tucker?" a voice called.

Danny's eyes widened. "You don't know where I am," he told his friend before turning invisible. Unable to be seen, he watched as a familiar someone approached them.

"Tucker, what are you doing here so late?" Jack Fenton asked, smiling weakly.

"Uh…it's my cousin's wedding," he lied.

"Oh, really? It's pretty packed," he said as if he could really care less. "Look, you haven't seen Jazmine or Danny, have you?"

"No, sorry," he lied again. "I haven't talked to Danny in a while, and I have no clue where Jazz is."

"Well, the office where she works called today and said that she never showed up and I don't remember her coming home tonight," he said. "I can see why she wouldn't want to come home; she still has a problem with my ghost research. But I don't understand why she wouldn't arrive at work."

"Hmm…"

Something snuck into Danny's head while he remained invisible. Trying to make no movement noises, he reached down into his pocket and brought out Jazz's necklace. Staring down at the clasp, he could tell that it had been ripped off hard. And now that he thought about it…it never seemed like Jazz would ever break anything as special as the charm no matter how angry she was…. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

He had almost forgot he was invisible and had begun to talk, when someone walked up to them. It was the same guy that had nearly tried to kill him earlier; the ghost hunter from the convention.

"Jack, there you are," he said. His young face finally saw Tucker, and his eyes immediately narrowed again in suspicion. "That's the same boy I saw with the kid this morning. They were eating together, with another girl."

"I..I just got here," Tucker stammered, throwing up his hands in defense.

"You said that kind of nervously, didn't you?" Jarod demanded.

"Hush. Tucker, were you here this morning?" Jack asked.

"Yes, he was with me," said a voice.

Danny gasped in surprise, which was quickly refueled by another wave of anger. A girl with curly red hair walked over to them.

"Can I help you?" Jarod asked, annoyed at the interruption.

"I'm Tucker's date for the wedding," she said sweetly, wrapping her arms around him. Danny crawled away, barely brushing her side, and began walking away from the four. He had to get away from there. Staring directly past Jack and Jarod, she let her eyes focus for a little trick she'd learned.

"I see."

Danny suddenly felt something hit his head mentally, like someone had dropped a hammer on top of his head and cried out, forgetting. His invisibility wore off and he crumbled to the carpet.

"I believe the ghost you're looking for is behind you," Karissa said, smiling darkly.

Jarod and Jack whipped around and Danny sensed their stares without needing to see them. As fast as he could, he took off running, and they quickly chased after him.

"Hey, stop!" Jack cried.

"Yeah, like I'm going to listen," he muttered, running around a corner. Closing his eyes, he felt the familiar change around him as he went ghost.

Before a powerful blast of energy shot into him.

And back in the hallway, Tucker remained, staring around for Karissa. But the girl had instantly vanished.

…………………………………

"Sam?" asked a voice. There was an insistent tap on her driver's side window.

Not caring, Sam's hand moved to turn up the rock music blaring and her 'Stang began vibrating with the volume. She put an arm across her tear-streaked eyes.

"Sam?" said the same voice, closer.

She jumped and sat up, staring into piercing green eyes. "How did you get in here Karissa?"

"You back doors are unlocked," Karissa lied. Of course, Sam didn't realize that.

"Oh, well than you can just let yourself out then," she snapped.

"We need to talk."

"What's there to talk about? You kissed Danny, you like Danny, you'll get Danny, end of story."

"Actually, he kissed me."

Sam glared at her, her amethyst eyes flashing dangerously. "I don't believe that."

"You should, it's true," she said. "You don't really think he loves you, do you?"

"He acts like it," she said, feeling a small wave of emotion come over her.

"Boys are actors, Sam. They make us think, what we want to think," she said. She leaned closer. "If Danny really loves you…why isn't he here now?"

……………………………

Danny dodged another blast of blue energy from one of Jarod's weapons. Damn it, he had other things to do…like find Sam. Instead, he was running away from his own father and his new sidekick.

"Jarod, stop!" Jack yelled, putting his hand on top of the silver barrel and swinging it away. "The ghost isn't firing back."

"What is your point?" he asked angrily.

"He hasn't done anything to hurt us, so we can't hurt him," he replied. He whispered, leaning down near his ear. "If I'm good at anything, it's negotiating. Maybe we can find a truce."

Danny hid behind a corner wall, breathing heavily. They seemed to be pausing; which either meant they were plotting something or they were waiting for him to strike next. So far, he hadn't fired any shots at them, afraid of actually harming his dad, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could go without.

"Hey, it's Invis-o-Bill, right?" Jack asked. "Or maybe there's another name you prefer."

Danny grimaced. A name he'd acquired a few years ago, his freshman year at high school. He couldn't believe that people still remembered it. A year after, Valerie Grey had finally found out his secret and had told the police his ghost alias. Now everyone knew him as Danny Phantom.

"You can come out. We're not unarmed, but we can be, and we promise we won't fire," Jack continued.

He gave a confused look. It was the first time he'd ever heard Jack Fenton pass up the opportunity to catch a ghost. They were definitely plotting something. Unless his father was actually sincere…

"We won't hurt you," he said again.

Danny sighed and turned around the corner slowly, not daring to meet Jack Fenton's tiny green eyes. He was afraid if he did, something would happen.

Jack gave him a curious look. "See. Nothing's going to happen."

"What are you doing?" Jarod demanded.

"Shut up!" he hissed.

"No way," Jarod argued. He pulled something out of his backpack and aimed. "He's not getting away again. Even if I have to hurt both of you."

…………………………..

"Get out of my car," Sam said furiously. She stared into Karissa's eyes with a fervor that she never would have had before had she known what a betrayer her once best friend was.

"What?" Karissa asked. "Haven't you been listening?"

"Listening to what? A crock of lies? I've heard enough. Get out of this car," she said.

"Fine. But just remember. You and Halfa boy brought this war on yourselves," Karissa warned, giving her a last look. She climbed out of the car and slammed the door, then took off running.

Sam waited until she couldn't see her anymore before getting out of the car. Staring off into the distance, she had only one idea. But she had to get away from here. Shivering in the winter breeze, she started walking back to the hotel. The night wind was fierce against her skin and she suddenly wished she would have brought her coat, even if she was only out there for a moment.

She walked through the hotel doors and the temperature wasn't much better. Sam rubbed her arms against the cold that suddenly hit her. Jeeze, was the hotel always cold? For God's sake, it was winter.

Maybe she would go up to the room. She just hoped he wouldn't be there. That way she could pack her bags, and leave without a huge confrontation.

She sighed and opened the door to the stairs and stepped inside. She almost gasped, but clapped a hand over her mouth just in time.

Danny was standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking around for something, but didn't see her. She didn't dare move. Maybe if she just backed out quietly….

Then something happened she never expected.

The stairwell was filled with a flash of blue-white light, and the room grew even colder. She turned her head carefully, expecting to see Danny playing with some flashlight.

Except it wasn't Danny she saw.

……………………….

Jarod punched the trigger and Danny went intangible, soaring down into the floor below him. He became tangible again when his feet hit the floor. He walked down one flight of stairs, to the bottom floor. It wouldn't take them long to find him. His father at least, didn't seem to want to hurt him.

He changed to his human form without meaning to. But it was obvious why. Every part of him hurt from getting hit with one of the electric blasts. His mind wasn't any better. He still hadn't found Sam, he was running away from his own dad, a ghost was practically in love with him and was making his relationship with Sam a living hell, and his powers kept fizzing out on him because of the emotions running loose in his head.

But he had to do something. Finding Sam was his top priority. Sighing, he shook himself off and changed back into his ghost form. Turning around, he gasped as someone else did, staring into icy amethyst eyes.

Before Sam ran out of the room.

…………………………….

Cliffhanger. Ha ha. Jack Fenton has changed quite obviously since Maddie's death. One of my friends say that this turns into a bigger soap opera every day. I have no idea. Ideas just come to me. Please R&R!

Here's your sneak peek!

_Chapter Eight- Desperately_

_"Sam, wait, I can explain," he said._

_"Explain what? That you're the one who's been causing all of this trouble? This is the huge secret you've been keeping from me?" she said. "I'm starting to wonder…" She trailed off._

_"Please, I can tell you anything you want," he pleaded. _

_"Anything I want? Why couldn't you have told me this, you know, when we met?" _

_"Because this is how I didn't want you to react," he explained._

_"How am I reacting Danny? Like any **normal **person would." She stared at him. "I don't know you. But I know you're not normal."_

So, what do you think? Please R&R!

And here's my promised sneak peek for Freeze Out!

_Chapter Two- Valerie_

_"So what are we supposed to do?" I asked. "We can't just sit here…together….alone…like we did last year, because I am so not doing that."_

_"What do you suppose we do?" Sam snapped. "The engine doesn't work. You can't hardly drive, let alone see. We have no idea where we are. And we're probably going to be stuck here for a while."_

_"If I wanted a commentary, I would have bought your book," I said, letting my anger get the better of me. It was just sometimes…she just annoyed me._

_"Okay…okay…let's just chill….." Tucker said, leaning onto the seat next to me._

_"What, let me guess. You want to play truth or dare again?" Paulina asked, sitting sulkily._

_"If anybody gives him the same dare…(cough) as someone did last time, I am going to punch something," Danny warned._

_"Oh, you didn't like Tucker running around—" I began, actually laughing._

_"Stop right there! I cannot handle these visuals!" Paulina said._

_"What exactly are you visualizing?" Dash asked._

_"Ewww! That is not what I meant!" she said, slapping him flirtatiously and giggling. Everyone laughed, then realized how indifferent we were._

_"So…" _

Well, that goes in a little deeper. Freeze Out is coming Monday!

Lateraina Wolf


	8. Desperately

Hello, the billionth update, but I only do it for you guys, so thanks to my reviewers!

Megan, Lacy, Dannysgf08, johanna, Live2write4ever, getfuzzyfan, Danny Phantom Lover, wishing for rain,

LaBOBuren, Grey Raven North, DP lover, RoseCat, Dragon Girl, Yayfulness, cakreut12, outlawarcher, Tuckers-Ghostly-Girl,

Faith's Melody, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Penguin, Nickelback-DannyPhantom Lover, Unlikely-to-bear-it

Emberwings: Love Teen Titans. In fact I have a TT/DP crossover called Fired Up.

This story's getting a little bit deeper into the plot. Sneak peek after the chapter…and a bonus look at chapter nine and ten.

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom; Butch Hartman does.

I don't own Hotel Paper; Michelle Branch does.

Chapter Eight

Desperately

Danny watched as the door to the stairwell closed and then within an instant, changed back into his normal form. How could he have been so stupid to not even look to see if it was clear? Now, someone had seen. More specifically, _Sam _had seen.

He burst through the door and saw her turn around the corner at the end of the hallway to his left. He chased after her as fast as he could. Turning the corner, he saw him waiting for something in the middle of the second floor lobby.

"Sam," he said, breathing heavily.

"What are you?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"Please…can we go somewhere else to talk?" he asked, hoping no one would come by and overhear them even right now.

"Tell me what you are now, and then maybe," she said. Her mind seemed to have its own little debate within her. She now knew the truth…sort of, and that meant that he didn't have to hide anything from her. But that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.

He looked around. "Not here," he said. "There's too many people around."

"You're that one that was on the news a while ago…I don't understand why I didn't see it before," she said. She turned around, not sure if she run again or stay behind and figure things out.

"Sam, wait, I can explain," he said.

"Explain what? That you're the one who's been causing all of this trouble? This is the huge secret you've been keeping from me?" she said. "I'm starting to wonder…" She trailed off.

"Please, I can tell you anything you want," he pleaded.

"Anything I want? Why couldn't you have told me this, you know, when we met?"

"Because this is how I didn't want you to react," he explained.

"How am I reacting Danny? Like any _normal_person would." She stared at him. "I don't know you. But I know you're not normal."

"I'm no different," he said. "I'm the same guy you met. I just have…gifts."

"Gifts that hurt people? Or attack the city?" she asked.

"I never did that," he protested. "I was fighting the real person that was. And they framed me because of it."

"Danny?" called a voice.

They both looked up to see someone walk towards them. It was Tucker, and the look on his face was relieved as he finally caught sight of his best friend.

"Tuck," he said.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I lost them for the moment," he said. He turned back around, hoping to see Sam, but while he'd been distracted, she'd apparently run off again.

"Dang it," he whispered.

"Sorry," Tucker said, staring around. "What happened?"

"Sam…saw me going ghost," he whispered, annoyed.

Tucker let out a whistle. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I have no idea," he admitted. "I was…going to tell her. I didn't want her to find out like that. She took it just like Jazz did I think."

"Well…I do have a little good news," Tucker said. He brought out his laptop from his bag and held it out to show him. They leaned up against the wall as it turned on.

"Karissa Spectra, if it's the one I think it is, is the daughter of Penelope Spectra," he said, rolling his finger on the mouse pad.

"That sounds familiar," he said.

"Yeah I know," Tucker agreed. "I did some digging and found this." He pulled an article up and enlarged it. Danny read it aloud.

"Psychiatrist Penelope Drugen dies in drunk driving accident in 1977," he said. "Who's that?"

"That's what I didn't know, but I looked some more up on it anyway," Tucker said. He clicked on a picture and maximized it. "Does she look familiar?"

He examined the picture. The woman had red hair, shaped into flames on top of her head and green eyes. She looked like an overpeppy, young, normal woman. But Danny saw similarities between Penelope and Karissa.

"Is that her?" he asked.

"No, but I bet that's her mom. But why would her name be Drugen? Unless she was divorced or something."

"Drugen is her married name," he said. He clicked on another link. "I looked up some more and I found this."

Danny read again. "Penelope Spectra, teen therapist of the year," he said. "Ms. Spectra has traveled to over thirty schools nation wide, giving her token of help to teens everyday. Highly motivated, respected, and devoted, Spectra says she's going to give her award to her daughter Karissa in hopes that her teen will someday follow in her footsteps." He saw a picture of Karissa and Penelope, hugging together. Both of them looked the same.

"Yeah…but that doesn't explain why Karissa's a ghost," he said. "Or half ghost, if she was telling me the truth."

"It could be anything," Tucker said. "Penelope might have married a human after she died…or Karissa might have been in an accident like you were."

"And if Karissa's her daughter…then she would have ghost powers," he said.

"Exactly. But…Penelope doesn't have such a good track record since last year," he said, turning back to the computer. He clicked on another link and pulled up another article.

"Senior dies in freak accident," he read. "Therapist Penelope Spectra was the last witness to this brutal death, and says that they were in a session together when suddenly the room lost power and the eighteen year old girl was zapped by some unknown force, resulting in his death. Funeral processions for Nichole Suamel will be held next Tuesday. Remaining family are her parents, Todd and Rachel Suamel and two brothers, Jarod and Michael." He skimmed over the rest of the article. "This is great Tuck."

"I'm a Techno-Geek," he said.

"Now you admit that?" he asked, laughing.

"Yeps," he said. He turned to him, serious now. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"No, you've done a lot so far," he said.

"Then Danny?" he asked. "You know where to find me. Now, go find your girl." He didn't need to be told twice.

……………………………………….

Sam walked down the hall, turning into a stairwell, humming to the music overhead playing softly. _"Oh, why can't I ignore it? I keep giving in but I should know better. Cause there was something bout the way you looked at me and it's strange that things change, but not me wanting you so desperately."_

Thoughts kept shooting into her brain, forcing all of her emotions to go one way and then the other. She wondered if she would have ever told him about his secret…. Would she really have reacted different had he told her upfront? Would she have loved him the same way? When she'd heard the rumors about him…she'd thought it had been cool. She'd always believed in ghosts and spirits. And now that she actually knew the person…she wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

"Going somewhere?" asked a voice.

She shook her head and ignored her. Her old friend was like a gnat. Always there when she felt like she could annoy someone. She walked down to the bottom of the stairs and she followed her anyway.

"He still hasn't come after you, huh?"

"Shut up Karissa," Sam yelled, stopping.

"I knew it. It's obvious who he prefers still," she said.

"You're out of luck Kari," she said. "He doesn't like—"

"Phantoms like whoever they choose, thank you very much," Karissa interrupted.

Sam froze at the word. No way. Turning around slowly, she met Karissa's familiar, triumphant green eyes. "How do you know?"

"I've known for a while hun," she said, walking over to her. "It's quite obvious Mr. Fenton is a bad boy. Or should I call him Danny Phantom?" Sam shook her head, looking away, but she continued. "Put the pieces together Sam. Even in his normal human form, he can see the similarities. Clumsiness, nervous, shy and untrustworthy. He snuck us into the pool using his powers. He's the one who got you past the security guards; did you really believe that they walked right past you? It's invisibility."

"Those things don't show he's a bad person," she said.

"Heck, he could be invisible right now, watching us, but he's not," she said. "He's off somewhere, clearly not looking for you. He's probably finding out the best way to burn this place to the ground. Phantoms are devious."

"I don't believe you," Sam said. She wasn't sure if she believed herself.

"You think what you want," she said. "But he's the one who's not here."

"Well, you have to know, I'm quite full of surprises," said a voice. Sam looked up and gasped, seeing Danny sit at the top of the stairs she'd just come down, on top of the railing. He slid down the long rail and landed perfectly on his feet.

Karissa glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Sam," he said, giving her an equal look of hate. "In fact, I was, had I not been chased down by your little helpers."

"I wouldn't know anything about that," she said.

"About what?" Sam asked.

"She sent a ghost hunter after me," he replied. "The same one that attacked me from before. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, looking down. "But how do I know who's telling the truth?"

"Because I'm not going to hide anything else from you. I won't make that mistake ever again," he said.

She looked up. "I need some time to think."

He nodded swallowing. "I'll wait."

She hated the look she saw in his gorgeous blue eyes…but she couldn't deny everything that was happening around her. "Excuse me," she said. She walked out of the stairwell and disappeared out on the floor.

Karissa sighed. "Well, now that she's gone," she said. She punched out with her arm and he ducked in time, catching her wrist as she reeled back to do it again.

"You just love to stir up trouble don't you?" he asked, changing back into his ghost form. He held her wrist tightly, making sure she didn't wriggle away.

"What can I say, it's in my blood?" she challenged.

"Jarod, stop! Listen, I can help you!" shouted a voice.

Both of them looked up, distracted for a moment. They could hear footsteps echoing above them, and two arguing voices. Danny recognized them both.

Lurching away from Karissa, he went invisible as fast as he could, leaving Karissa standing there, looking awkward as the two men reached them.

"You again, have you seen him?" Jarod demanded.

"Who?" she teased.

"Don't mess with me," he snapped.

"Jarod, calm down," Jack said.

"You know, I'm tired of you. You said you wanted to help me," he said. In one simple attack, Jarod punched out and hit Jack Fenton in the face. The blow caused him to fall unconscious and he crumpled to the ground. "When really, you were against me the whole time."

"Something tells me…you shouldn't have done that," Karissa said.

Danny let out a cry of fury, feeling his eyes burn as they glowed vividly and he became visible again, appearing right behind Jarod.

Getting in a good hit, he dropped kicked him in the back from behind. Jarod stumbled forward and the weapon he'd been holding clattered to the ground.

"Told you," Karissa said.

"You!" Jarod yelled.

"I figured it out, Jarod," he said, stepping over to him. "There's only one reason why you asked my dad for help anyway. You think a ghost killed your sister."

"How did…" he stammered.

"Her name was Nichole, wasn't it?" he asked, remembering the article. "Senior in high school, almost about to graduate. And then someone killed her."

"Creatures like you are the ones who killed her," he muttered.

"There's a difference between some ghosts. I'm not evil," he said. "I've never killed anything. But there are a few that do."

"Shut up!" Karissa said.

"Oh, so you know about your mom's reputation?" he asked. "Jarod, I want you to meet the daughter of Penelope Spectra."

"Spectra?" he asked.

"I believe her mom was the last one who saw your sister. Alive. Right before she killed her," he said. "And you know she did it."  
Jarod stared between them. "You're right." He stood up and picked up his gun and pointed it directly at her.

Karissa gave Danny a deadly look, swallowing hard. Jarod's fingers pulled back on the trigger, as he held one eye closed. "This should hurt by the way."

"No, wait—" she cried.

"I've waited two years," he said. "To decimate any ghost. Even if they didn't kill Nichole." He pressed the button and a large ball of lightning streaked towards Karissa.

He switched weapons and pointed one at Danny, striking the trigger fast. A bolt of black energy soared towards him. Pain shot up and down him and there was a light as he changed back into his human form.

And then everything went black.

………………………………………….

Sam walked out of the stairwell, clutching her arms together for warmth that wouldn't come. She walked towards the lobby and without looking up, walked straight out of the hotel and to her car again.

Something told her to run. She had a few thousand dollars. She could get anything she needed with it. Go away forever.

But she'd never see Danny again.

Crying softly, she wondered if her heart would ever be the same again. This wasn't fair to her. It honestly wasn't fair to him either.

Climbing into her car, she started the engine and turned up the Evanescence music full blast, hoping the noise would at least carry some of her pain away.

She pressed down the gas pedal and pulled out of the hotel parking lot, leaving everything behind. She could get clothes and other stuff later. Heck, maybe if she came back in a week or two, the hotel might have her things put away in the lost and found.

The cd switched in her car and she found herself unable to listen to Linkin Park at the moment. Switching it to the radio, she heard a familiar song.

_"Something 'bout the way you looked at me, made me think for a moment, that maybe we were meant to be, living our lives separately, and it's strange how things change, but not me wanting you so desperately."_

Something in her heart decided that maybe she could handle Linkin Park and so she dug around to get the cd back out. Glancing up, she put the cd between her lips so she could drive with both hands as she pulled out onto an empty road.

She put the cd in and the Forward for their album, Meteora began playing. Looking down, she sighed, then looked back up.

Screaming, she threw on the brakes and the car came to a screeching halt. Breathing hard, she couldn't believe she'd been such an idiot to not look before she continued to drive. Through her windshield, she saw someone standing, inches away from her 'Stang, staring at her.

The girl's face was pale, but she could see faint dirt spots on her cheeks as if she'd been in some rough battle. Immediately she recognized it. She couldn't deny the straggly red hair and wide blue-green eyes.

"Jazz?"

………………………………………….

Well, that should be interesting. And it is my friends, it will be I hope. Please R&R! Here's your sneak peek!

_Chapter Nine: Breathe_

_"Are you sure?" she asked._

_"I've never been more sure," Jazz replied. _

_"How long have you known?" she asked._

_"A few years," she replied. "Danny and I are pretty close. He was always going off to do the field work and I was always the protective one, waiting at home for him."_

_"I never would have thought he would have told you about his ghost powers," Sam said, sitting back and drinking her coffee. "I wish he would have told me. I wonder why he didn't."_

_"Because he doesn't love you."_

And a little surprise for you, a sneak peek for chapter eleven!

_Chapter Eleven: Hotel Paper_

_"I could have given you anything you wanted, but you had to go and screw that up, didn't you?" Karissa said, shoving him up against the wall._

_"I don't make deals with evil ghosts, sorry to confuse you," he said, trying to break away. The cuff was too strong, and his other hand wouldn't cooperate as she did the other one._

_She stared into him. "You would if it was something you really wanted," she said._

_"You won't hurt Sam," he demanded._

_"Oh, I wasn't talking about Sam," she said. "I was talking about something else."_

_"Like what?" he asked._

_"What's the one thing you've been wanting back since it was taken away from you Danny?" she asked. "The one thing that you've been without since you were fifteen."_

_He caught on and a new fierce wave of emotions hit him._

_"You want your mother back, don't you?"_

Ah, poor Danny. I seem to torture him so much. Please R&R!

Lateraina Wolf


	9. Breathe

Heylo! Sorry it took me so long to update. I've been having problems with this chapter, but I finally got it.

I'm really glad that you all love this one. It is one of my favorites to work with, romance wise. Thanks to my lovely reviewers.

JNgirl, Panthera x4, Glean-Glean, Archer of Darkness and Callie, Olivia x3, yingan-shadow, Uru Baen, cakreut12, Ryuu no Taiyo, Lilypetal (x2), Lucifer, cakreut12, DannyPhantomLover, guess whhhoo, Johann-son, Dragon Girl, johanna, ChibiSess, Hopeless4life, Penguin, LaBOBuren, shepyt, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, AngelofLight, night person, Lacy, Faith's Melody, DannyPhantom66, outlawarcher, unlikely-to-bear-it, Megan,

Some of you are probably wondering if I'm going to keep this story now that Memory Blank has aired. For those of you that missed the episode, it basically said that if Danny and Sam have never met, Danny would never have his ghost powers. But….the whole thing with Karissa is far too into the plot to turn back now and I really don't want to get rid of this story. So…if it's alright, I'm going to say Danny has his powers anyway. (I'm mentioning this in Paradise and Sunshine Circle too)

Danny does not come into this chapter at all. In fact, it's mainly Sam and Jazz and a few extra characters. Karissa is in this chapter, but she's not seen. (That will make sense later)

Chapter Nine

Breathe

Sam's shallow breathing and rapidly beating heart seemed to be as loud as the thundering rain outside. Immediately, she pulled off her seatbelt and opened her car door, rushing outside.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry," she said, staring at Jazz. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, I need help," she muttered. "It's Sam, right?"

"Yes," she said. "I think you need to go to a hospital." She couldn't ignore Jazz's bleach white cheeks under all the dirt caked on her skin. She looked like she'd just been in a struggle.

"No, I'm fine. We need to get help," she said again.

Sam shivered. "Come on, climb in so we don't freeze out here."

Jazz hesitated a moment, her blue-green eyes wary, and Sam waited. She made up her mind finally and nodded.

They both climbed in and Sam turned up the heater, seeing Jazz tremble. She turned down her music so that it was barely audible.

"Can...can you take me to the police?" she asked. "I have reason to be--" She stopped suddenly, clutching her arms to her chest. Sam watched, slightly frightened. Was Jazz sick?

"Are you okay?" she asked.

She reopened her eyes, shaking her head. "I'm fine. Can you take me to the police?" she demanded.

"Yeah, sure thing," she said. She turned her 'Stang around and started driving rather faster than necessary towards the Amity Park local police station in silence. Finally, she couldn't take it any more. "What happened Jazz? Why…why are you like this?"

"I ran away, that's all," she said. They went into silence again and Sam figured that she wouldn't get a real answer from the terrified girl. The silence was awkward, but it gave Sam time to think about something.

How was it that Karissa had known about Danny's ghost powers? Her once best friend had absolutely hated paranormal stuff. Had she just been blind by love and not seen the obvious things that Karissa had seen? Or did Kari really know something more than she was telling her?

Before Karissa's mother had disappeared after the fiasco with some girl's death, she'd been a constantly busy mom. Her partner….Bertrand, and she were always out somewhere. Karissa hadn't wanted to follow in Penelope's footsteps, preferring other ways to get money.

The next thing she knew, her thoughts had taken her all the way to the police station already. She pulled into a parking space.

Sam turned off the ignition and glanced over at Jazz. "Are you certain you can't tell me anything…I know you don't know me very well, but if I could help—"

"You wouldn't understand," she muttered plainly.

Sam nodded. "Okay." She smiled weakly. "Maybe when this is over, we can go get lunch. I'll buy."

"Spoiled little rich girl are you?" she snapped.

This was not going well. Sam was trying her hardest, but she just couldn't make Jazz's approval. But it's not like it would matter anyway; his sister wouldn't have to worry about her once she got out of there. Once again, her heart seemed to slow at the thought.

"That's what they say," she whispered.

Jazz got out of the car, walking fast towards the entrance to the police station. Sam followed, locking her car up behind her. As she walked into the entrance, she bumped into someone coming from the opposite direction.

"Sorry," she said hurriedly.

"Sam?" a familiar voice asked.

She gasped and looked up. "Dad?"

Todd Manson was a man in his late thirties and had wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. He stood a good foot over her and she stepped backwards, surprised.

"I've been looking all over for you, thank goodness I found you," he said, wrapping her in a hug.

"You…you were?" she asked.

"Yes, of course. Your mother said you ran away," he replied. "We've been looking for you the last three days."

"I…I did. I got really angry, she just got me so angry," she said.

"Where have you been staying?" he asked. He glanced around. "Here, let's go in here." He led her into the station and she saw at least ten workers hustling around. She sat down on one of the free chairs by the entrance and he sat down next to her.

"I was at….Karissa's," she lied.

"Samantha," he warned sternly. "I talked to Penelope. She was the first person I talked to. She said that neither you or Karissa were there. And you know that's not true." Sam didn't say anything. Her dad knew her too well. She couldn't keep anything from him…except perhaps one thing.

"Sam, look. I know you and your mother have had problems getting along with each other. But running is not the answer," he said.

"I know…" she said. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't take back what she did. And a part of her didn't want to. She couldn't get Danny off her mind.

"Look…. I bought an apartment about a couple miles from here. If you're really having problems…" he said almost reluctantly.

Her mouth dropped open. He wasn't suggesting what she thought…was he?

"I've spoken to your mother and she's agreed," he said. "But if you would like to live in your own little space, I'll give you the apartment."

"You mean, live on my own?" she asked, half scared, half excited.

"We'll…I'll take care of the expenses of course, so you won't have to worry about that. But…you're a teenager. If you can find a job…I don't see why you can't."

"I have a--" She stopped. She'd almost said she had a job. But the only reason she had that job was because of….

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she stammered. "I can probably find a job."

"I know," he said. "Look, I don't really like this, but if it's what you want…then, here," he said. He placed something in her hand and she looked at it, her heart fluttering. Her own place…. It was the key to the apartment.

"Your mother and I will help you move in, and I'll show you around of course," he explained.

"How…how mad is she?" she asked, cringing.

"She's pretty upset Sam. She's pretty worried too," he replied.

"I didn't mean…some of the things I said," she said.

"We all do things we don't mean to. But we live with our mistakes and move on. We can't escape ourselves by running though."

A thought occurred to her. Running was the only thing that brought Danny to me. If it was one mistake that she could have made….it was a damn good one.

"So, are you ready to go home now?" her dad asked.

She bit her lip. "There's…something I have to do first. One of my friends is here. She's kind of flipped. I want to be here when she's done."

"Karissa?" he asked.

"No, just a new friend. I just don't want her to think I abandoned her," she said.

"Okay….you're not going to run again, are you?" he asked.

"No," she said certainly. Not anymore. "But…can I come home when I'm ready?"

He gave her a look. "Where are you staying?"

"At a hotel," she replied. "I have my stuff there and everything. And maybe…I'm just not ready to face mom yet," she said. It was half true.

He nodded. "Okay. Well, then, give me a call, okay? If you need something?" he asked.

"I will," she promised. She gave him a hug. "Thanks dad. This means a lot to me." She curled the key to her new apartment in her hand tightly.

"You're welcome." He sighed, standing up. "I suppose I should allow you to wait for your friend now."

"Okay," she said.

"I'll see you later," he said. Her dad waved and smiled, walking out of the door of the station.

She fought the urge to scream, in both happiness and pure shock. Her own place….she could already imagine how she would decorate it. A place to blare her music, practice singing, and just relax. Only one thing was missing….

…………………………………..

Sam twirled her tortellini in circles on her plate, barely eating anything. The Pasta House was where Jazz had chosen to eat after she had finished talking with the police. But Sam had yet to learn anything from her. She'd remained pretty much silent the whole time.

"You're a vegetarian, huh?" Jazz asked, taking a drink.

"Yeah," she replied. "Ultro Recyclo Vegetarian. It means I don't--"

"Eat anything with a face on it," she finished. "I know."

"I'm kind of obvious I guess," she admitted. "My friend told me I wear my emotions on my sleeve once."

"You do," she agreed. "Right now you look like you want to say something but you won't."

Well, maybe Karissa was right about one thing….

"I was just…wondering," she said. She closed her eyes; she had already started something. She couldn't back down from it now. "You're Danny's sister."

"Yes, I knew that."

"I… know this probably sounds crazy, but I saw Danny do the weirdest thing the other day," she said. "And now I can't get it out of my head."

"What, become half ghost? Yeah, he does that."

"You know?"

"Yep," she said.

"He's not….evil…is he?" she asked.

"Probably. Aren't all ghosts evil, no matter what they say?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She pushed back her red hair.

"Oh…" she whispered. Now she was torn even more. His own sister had said that Danny might be evil. But he'd promised he wasn't.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I've never been more sure," Jazz replied.

"How long have you known?" she asked.

"A few years," she replied. "Danny and I are pretty close. He was always going off to do the field work and I was always the protective one, waiting at home for him."

"I never would have thought he would have told you about his ghost powers," Sam said, sitting back and drinking her coffee. "I wish he would have told me. I wonder why he didn't."

"Because he doesn't love you."

Sam's heart slowed at her words. Jazz was Danny's sister….of course she would know him well enough to figure that out. Did Danny really not love her? She remembered something Karissa had said.

_"If Danny really loves you…why isn't he here now?"_

She shook herself off. Karissa was just trying to annoy her. And besides that, Danny had been looking for her. And right now, she didn't know where he was, and probably vice versa.

"I see," she muttered.

"Don't take it personal hun," Jazz said.

"I'm not," she stammered. "I didn't, I mean."

"Where did you get that necklace?" she asked.

Sam froze and her hand automatically went up to her the silver chain hanging around her neck. It was a silver metal shaped like a star. In the center of the star, "forever" was engraved.

"A friend gave it to me," she said. "Mark."

"Your boyfriend?" Jazz asked.

Sam shook her head, her eyes wide. "No. No, he's definitely not my boyfriend. We broke up three months ago."

"Why?"

"He got angry…and well….no offense, but I really don't want to talk about it," she said.

"Okay," she said. "So what are--" She stopped and suddenly grabbed Sam's hand extremely tight that it was almost painful. "Sam, please, listen, she's not--" She stopped and closed her eyes, the frantic words disappearing. Shaking her head, she reopened her eyes.

Sam pulled away. "What, she's not, what?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," she answered.

"You just--" she started.

"I'm fine," Jazz insisted. "If you don't mind, I think I'm done here. I have work to do and not a lot of time to do it."

Sam nodded. "Don't worry. I'll take care of this. Do you need a ride somewhere?"

"No, I'm fine." She stood up and walked away without saying another word.

"Bye," Sam said to the empty chair.

……………………………

Walking extra slow, Sam made her way down the hallway of the hotel. She was already on the second floor.

She could do this….Danny wanted to talk, right? She could do that. If he wasn't in the room, then she would wait for him to get back. Surely, he hadn't given up on her already…right? Closing her eyes, all she needed to do was breathe. She could do this. She would get the real truth from him.

She stared at the doorway to her room, leaning up against the wall, trying to make up her mind. Was this a bad idea? Would her heart be broken now…or later?

"Come on, Sammie," she said, talking to herself. "You can do this."

She took a deep breath and pulled her key out from her skirt pocket. But as she got closer…she saw that the door was already open…. It hadn't been closed all the way.

Her lilac eyes narrowed, she pushed the door shortly open all the way and stepped inside the unnaturally cold room.

And her heart lurched as she saw a streak of blood across the wall.

……………………………………………

How's that for a cliffhanger? Just wait until you see the next chapter. Hee hee.

Well, quite honestly I am having a rather large debate. Most of my lovely reviewers that I talk to…all want a sequel to this story. I can create a plot for this, in fact I have one right now…but I don't know if a sequel is good or not. I'm still deciding, but right now the answer is no… But, like I said, I'm still deciding.

This "Mark" will be explained next chapter. The next chapter also only involves Danny, Sam, and a short appearance by Tucker.

But, I can't give away what happens next chapter other than that, so I can't give you sneak peeks for the next two chapters. However, I can give you one for two of my new ones coming soon!

_Romance/Suspense: Coming Soon_

_If You're Not The One (With lyrics from Daniel Beddingfield)_

_"Danny?" the voice asked._

_"Hey Sam," Danny greeted, smiling. He heard an odd noise on the other end that sounded like sniffling. "Sam, are you okay?"_

_"Danny, can you come over, please?"_

_"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned at her tone._

_"I want to stay here, please, I don't want to go," she said._

_"Sam!" he exclaimed. "Sam, what's wrong?"_

_"My parents told me today."_

_"Told you what?"_

_"We're moving."_

_Humor/Action/Adventure/Suspense: Coming Soon_

_Of All the People to Be Stuck With: Mini Series _

_I don't have a plot line right now, it's just a bunch of short one shots based on a few of my stories, The Elevator Game and Freeze Out._

_But, they're just min one shots where Danny, Sam, Paulina, Tucker, Valerie, and Dash all get stuck together each time and have to deal with each other each time. See flashbacks from both The Elevator Game and Freeze Out, and new twists that add to the stories._

_Including these stories:_

_Marco PoloPlaying Tag_

_Truth Or DareClubbing_

_Spin The BottleSwitch_

_Once Upon A Time Lancer's Detention_

Both of which are coming soon! Please R&R!

Update List: Coming Today!

Freeze Out, Fiction 2, Sunshine Circle, Love Me, Love Me, Adjustment, Ghost Gal, Even In Death, Twisted Life, Wherever You Will Go, Fired Up, Becoming, Senseless, Seventeen Days, Paradise, Hotel Paper

Update List: Coming Soon!

Ghost Gal, Ghost Gal 2, Infinity, Worthy (New Version), The Phantom Rogue, Adjustment, Modern Day R+J, Feeling Fear, Images, Hotel Paper, Till Death Do Us Part, Obsession (Finally)

Lateraina Wolf


	10. Where Are You Now?

Heylo! Welcome back to chapter ten of Hotel Paper. –Cries—This story is actually coming to an end. There's only a three more chapters left after this.

Thanks to my wonderful reviewers. By the way, I wasn't going to update this, but this is a present since I'm going to be gone for a while.

Olivia, blackphantom13x2, Lacy, DannyPhantom66, Johann-son, PhantaBaby13, Unlikely-to-bear-it, cakreut12 x2, ANIME FAN ANGUS, Hopeless4life, Soon-to-be-Yami'sgirl, ArcherofDarkness and Callie, yinyang-shadow, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Panthera, Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse, Valecia92, Lucifer, JNgirl

Chapter Ten

Where Are You Now?

Sam gasped, her heart thudding loudly against her chest. Did she really want to know what was lurking further into the room? So far, she couldn't see anything from her view, but that didn't mean someone or something wasn't waiting for her around the corner.

She held out her fists, prepared to fight. At least she wouldn't go down without one. Cautiously, she walked more into the room.

But there was nothing there. She put her hands down, confused. Then what had—

Her heart gave another lurch. Praying it wasn't real, she peered around at the edge of the bed closest to her. But there was no mistaking what she saw….

A slender, bloody hand sticking out from the corner of the bedside. She felt the blood drain for her face and traced carefully along the edge of the bed.

It was Danny, lying unconscious on the carpet on his side. He had several deep gashes and cuts across his face, arms, and neck, and the blood stains on his shirt signaled he was probably hurt underneath it too.

"Danny!" she yelled, rushing to him. She gently rolled him over onto his back and he let out a pained sigh, but didn't wake up.

"Oh my gosh," she whispered, panicked.

She stood up and made her way into the bathroom, hurriedly, a thousand thoughts racing through her head. She pulled a washcloth down from the towel rack and turned on the sink faucet full blast, soaking it.

Running back to him, she grabbed a pillow from her bed and sat down beside him again. She put the pillow in her lap and inched his head onto it.

Pressing the cloth against his forehead, she wiped a line of blood from the gash over his eye.

"Danny, wake up. Can you hear me?" she said earnestly.

He groaned weakly and his eyes fluttered open an inch or two, a pair of pained blue eyes staring back blurrily.

"Sam…." he whispered, closing his eyes again.

She started to cry out of shock, confusion, and happiness. He'd said her name, yet she was sure he really hadn't known it was her. Sam wiped a tear from her eye.

"Yes…it's me Danny," she replied, taking his hand. "I'm here."

"I--" he began. But his eyes opened barely a second before closing again as he slipped into unconsciousness.

……………………………………

Drifting back slowly, Danny's eyes opened just barely. He found himself lying on his back on a bed, and not to mention a great deal of pain. Finally, his focus cleared at last and light amethyst eyes stared into his.

"Hey," Sam greeted, relieved.

"Hey," he replied hoarsely. He shook his head to clear it again and sent a short wave of pain through it. "What happened?"

"That's a really good question. I came here and found you like this. Luckily, I had help," she said. She moved and Danny saw a familiar face.

"Tucker," he said.

"How are you feeling dude?" he asked, sitting on the dresser against the wall.

"Like hell," he replied honestly. He sat up slowly, leaning against the wood of the headboard.

"I remember standing in the stairwell," he said, digging back. "Karissa was there and then Jarod came in and started attacking us. I got hit by something and my powers shut down."

Sam bit her lip at the word, "powers" but didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say besides that.

"And that's why you aren't healing," Tucker realized.

"Probably," he agreed. "Jarod hit me with some weapon after that too and I just kind of ran and came here. And then I don't remember what happened."

"That must have been a while before we found you. You must have passed out from exertion or blood loss or both," he guessed. Sam gave Danny a concerned look, gently brushing her hand across his scratched arm.

"I'll be okay," he assured her. A part of him didn't know however. He wasn't sure what had happened to his ghost powers…and whether they would return or not.

"Hey, Dan, I gotta get home or my butt's grounded," Tucker said.

"I'll stay with him," said Sam quietly.

"Righty then. I'll see you later," he said. He gave a small wave and headed towards the door.

"Thanks Tuck," Danny called.

"No probs," he replied. The door clicked closed.

Sam turned back around, sitting on the bed near Danny's knees, chewing on her fingernails. She gave a nervous laugh. "So…ghost powers huh?"

"Yeah," he replied. He stared into her eyes. "Sam, I want to tell you everything."

She finally met his gaze. "How…are you like this?"

"I was in an accident when I was fourteen. It was a stupid mistake. Tucker and I were upstairs in my house when my parents came up from the lab downstairs. They had been working on a new project, the Fenton Portal. At the same time, I really wasn't interested in ghosts, but they had showed me what it was anyway. It was supposed to be a portal to the Ghost Zone, where most ghosts live. They were pretty upset that day."

…………………………..

_"What did you get for number fourteen?" Tucker asked, staring down at his math paper._

_"Fifteen-oh-three," Danny replied, glancing up at his homework._

_"Really?" Tucker teased thoughtfully, writing suddenly._

_"Cheater, cheater," Danny muttered, not pretending he didn't know what his best friend had just got him to do. _

_"Oh, like you haven't done it before. In fact, I think I learned it from you," he pointed out._

_Danny heard noise from within the kitchen and looked up to see his parents walk into the room, coming from the lab downstairs. Their facial expressions was the first thing that he noticed._

_"Is something wrong?" he asked._

_"Your father and I just tried the Fenton Portal. We didn't have any luck I'm afraid," Maddie Fenton replied._

_"All that work for nothing," Jack grumbled grumpily._

_"What's the Fenton Portal?" Tucker asked. Danny fought the urge to kick him underneath the table._

_"It doesn't matter anymore if we can't get it to work," Maddie sighed. "It'll just be a wall again."_

_"I need a break," Jack groaned._

_"I think we both do," she agreed. "Come on. Let's go upstairs. Danny, if you need us, call."_

_"Okay," Danny replied, watching them tread up the stairs miserably. They disappeared around the corner, into their room._

_"Going upstairs to do what?" Tucker asked, raising his eyebrows. He laughed as Danny shoved him in the shoulder. _

_"I did not need to hear that."_

_"So what's the Fenton Portal?" he repeated._

_"A hole in the wall that's supposed to prove that there's a Ghost World or Zone or whatever," he replied._

_"Whoa, cool. Really?" he asked. "Let's go check it out."_

_"Are you serious?" he asked._

_"Yeah, come on. Just for a sec," he pleaded. "Please?"_

_"Okay, but if my parents catch me, I'll never hear the end of it if they think I'm trying to be like them," he said. He stood up and stretched, then both boys passed the kitchen and headed down the stairs into the lab._

_"Dude, why didn't you show me this before? That is awesome," Tucker stated, walking over to the far wall._

_"It's a hole in the wall," Danny said again._

_"Yeah, but have you ever walked in there?"_

_"Well, no--"_

_"Then how do you know?"  
"Okay. If I go in there, will you leave me alone?" Danny asked._

_"I dare you," he challenged._

_"Alright, alright. Just hold on," he said, walking over to a desk. "One thing first." He found what he was looking for and pulled it out._

_"What is that?" Tucker asked._

_"Safety issue," he replied, holding up a white and black jumpsuit. He stepped into it and pulled it over his regular clothes. Glancing down, he saw an odd peel off attachment made to look like his father's head, right square in the middle of his chest. He pulled it off, rolling his eyes._

_"Safety issue?" Tucker asked. "What do you think you'll do, blow this place up?"_

_"No, but at least if my parents do find me like this they won't flip out on me," he said._

_"Oh, okay," he said. "I didn't even think about that."_

_"Didn't think so," Danny teased under his breath._

_"I heard that," he retaliated._

_Danny stepped up to the edge of the portal and slowly walked the entire distance in. Staring around, a grin spread across his face._

_"Tucker, you're right. Who knows what awesome, super cool things exist on the other side of that portal," he called out. His eye caught something and he gave a laugh._

_"What?" Tucker asked._

_"I wonder if my dad forgot to plug it in," he said, bending over. He picked up an extension cord and stepped over to the outlet on the wall. "Knowing my dad--"_

_He never got to finish. The plug had just barely inched into the sockets and energy crackled around him._

_Bolts of pain shot through his entire body and a strange cold feeling smothered him. He cried out and his body gave into the pain, darkness sweeping over his vision._

_"Danny?" Tucker exclaimed, standing up. The sudden blast from the portal had forced him to fall. Now that it had appeared to have stopped, he now saw that the Fenton Portal was glowing; green light shone from every direction and icy smoke poured from the base._

_"Danny?"_

_Tucker's voice wasn't clear at first, but if finally crept into Danny's mind. Groaning slightly, he was confused. Where was he? And why did he feel so strange? Then everything flashed through his head. His eyes snapped open very fast and he stared around. _

_He stood awkwardly on his feet. His legs felt like lead. "Tucker? What happened?" he asked._

_"Danny, are you alright? I heard a really weird noise and then you yelled." Danny stepped back onto the lab floor, feeling slightly lightheaded and piercingly cold._

_Tucker had his glasses off, cleaning them. "Are you alright?" he asked again, slipping the frames on. He gasped, suddenly, his green eyes widening._

_"What?" Danny asked._

_"Oh…my…god."_

………………………………..

"And then I was half ghost," he finished.

"Wow," Sam said. "You must have had to go through a lot of therapy after that, huh?"

He laughed. "Actually, no. I kind of liked it. Having powers made catching ghost easier obviously."

"So despite not wanting to become ghost hunters like your parents, you did anyway?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," he replied. "A couple times my parents hunted me. That was always fun. My dad let me go, sometimes by accident, but usually so he could catch me more. I always had to escape from my mom."

Sam touched his hand. "I'm sorry…about your mom."

"She died in a car accident about two years ago," he said. _Because of me, _he added silently.

"She must have been wonderful," she guessed.

"Yeah, she was," he agreed quietly. He tried sitting up straighter, and a blast of pain shot through his chest and arms. He groaned softly and grimaced, clutching the side of his stomach.

"Hang on, I think there's a first aid kit in the bathroom. I'll go get it." She stood up and walked rather hurriedly into the bathroom. Ducking underneath the sink, she pulled a small metal box off a hook. Opening it, she was glad to see bandages and peroxide. She grabbed the whole box and walked back into the room.

"You don't have to do this," he told her as she kneeled down on the floor beside him.

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked. "You might went to lie down so I-I can…you know." She broke off, blushing. He pretended not to notice, sliding slowly down to position himself flat.

"This might hurt," she said, dabbing a cloth from the box with peroxide. She carefully placed it on his skin, slightly underneath his shirt.

"Nah, it's just kind of cold," he whispered. "Of course, now, yeah, it kind of hurts."

She laughed. "Sorry."

"Oh, it's fine," he said. She leaned closer to get a particularly large scratch across his chest and found herself very close to him, her face a few inches from his.

Once again, she found that her heart seemed to split in two. She had never seem someone as beautiful and sweet as Danny and she was falling in love with him all over gain. But this isn't what she had come for--- she had come to get answers.

Danny lifted his hand and touched her cheek softly. She turned her face away a little and his fingers found the necklace at her throat. She closed her eyes.

"You aren't…aren't seeing someone else are you?" he stammered, averting his eyes.

"Who told you that?" she asked, opening her eyes.

"Karissa. She said something about someone named Mark," he explained.

"She would," Sam grumbled, angrier than she meant it to sound. "It's not true."

"I didn't think….I didn't _want _to think so," he said. She bit her lip, edging the cloth closer to his neck. Finally, he looked back. "But who is he?"

She froze, easing back down to the side of the bed. She absentmindedly fidgeted with the mixture of bandages within the first aid kit.

"You—you don't have to tell me," Danny said gently.

"No, no, it's fine," she assured him. "I owe you an explanation for all the questions I asked you." She stopped and then stared off the other direction before continuing.

"Mark was my first boyfriend. We dated for two years, and I don't know why I didn't realize it until now, but Karissa was always trying to steal him from me," she said. "But Mark was an actor. He made me believe what I wanted to believe. He made me believe he truly loved me. A couple months ago, I caught him kissing another girl, fortunately not Karissa. I told him off and he got so angry because I'd been spying on him. He shoved me into his car, locked it from the outside and then set it on fire. Karissa was the one who got me out. The worst I got was smoke inhalation. But if she hadn't have…been..there…"

Sam broke off, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Danny placed his finger on her skin and wiped it off, taking her hand.

"I promise you that I will _never_, ever hurt you," he declared. "I couldn't hurt you."

"You….you aren't evil?" she asked, sniffling.

"No, I'm not," he said, shaking his head.

"That's what—oh my gosh!" she suddenly exclaimed, smacking her forehead. "I completely forgot Danny, I found…I saw Jazz."

"What?" he asked, sitting up again.

"She was in the middle of the road and she was acting really weird. Like she was scared and she looked awful. But after I picked her up, she seemed fine. She told me to take her to the police station. I don't know where she is now, I bought her lunch and she disappeared after that. She was acting really strange. I think she might be in trouble."

"I have to find her," he said, placing his feet on the floor next to her.

"Danny, you're hurt," she said, rushing to him. He tried to stand, but his legs were cut and bruised.

"I…just have to find her," he said, trying again. He took a shaky step and found he could walk, but not very well.

"I know," she said, helping to support him.

"Sam…one thing," he said.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Where….how do you feel about us, now?" he continued. She pulled away just barely so that she could face him. "What are you going to do?"

"There's only one thing I can do Danny."

………………………………………………..

HAAAAAA! HAAA! How evil is that! Hee hee, now that is a cliffhanger! And there's no sneak peek. But I can tell you one thing. I have decided to make a sequel. So, what's really bad is that, I could not have them get back together in this story and torment you for the next one, Eternally Yours….ooh, I'm bad.

Here's a sneak peek from Modern Day R+J (And this update is coming soon, I only have a small part left to finish. The next chapter is very very long) I'm also changing the age of Danny, Sam, and Tucker (and others in their grade) to sixteen.

_Act I: Scene IV_

_"You know if they see us, we're dead," Tucker stated._

_"I'm very much aware of that," Danny said, stepping out of the car anyway. Tucker groaned, making a face and followed him. _

_"We…will…be…screwed," Tucker added._

_"I know," Danny said. "But honestly, Tucker, do you think that I wouldn't turn us invisible if we do end up getting caught?"_

_"Oh…" he said. "I forgot about that."_

_"I figured," he said._

_"So what's the plan…are we stealing something?" Tucker asked._

_"Yeah, like I need another reason for the Whites to hate me more. And if I get thrown in jail, things could get ugly. My mom flipped out last night just because I mentioned her name. Something about trying to steal dad away from her…" He shook his head. "Whatever game this is, it's getting annoying."_

_"It's the Fentons vs. the Whites now….this story's getting oddly familiar. I think it would be funny if you and Sam started dating and then it would be even more like Romeo and Juliet," he teased, not realizing how right he was. "But it's not like you and Sam will ever be able to date now."_

_"You think?" Danny asked._

_"Well, you don't like her do you….?" he teased. "Cause I can totally see you two dating. Except not now with the whole feud thing going. The only way you two could be together is if you pulled something totally random like proposing to her or something." _

_Danny suddenly stopped and Tucker almost ran into him from behind. "What?" Tucker asked, side stepping._

_"What did you just say?" he asked._

_"Could you be a little more specific?" Tucker asked. "The whole marriage thing? Yeah, that's funny. Kind of weird if you ask me….What?"_

_"Nothing," Danny replied._

HOW IS THAT FOR A SNEAK PEEK FOR ALL OF MY LOVELY FANS? HEE HEE! Coming soon!

Lateraina Wolf


	11. Hotel Paper

Hello! I love the number of reviews I got…hee hee. And to think, after this chapter there's only two left. But as usual, I'm going back to giving you a sneak peek to the next chapter instead of making you suffer.

Thanks to my reviewers!

Bre, blade-king, Dannyphantomsgf and Dark Dannys gf, X.X., Hopeless4life, Tuckers-Ghostly-Girl-xD, Cat-san, annomus, Sealeena, Olivia, Penguin, Lucifer, emera-fire22, ANIME FAN ANGUS, Teen Titans Obsessor, Johann-son, Divagurl277, Archerof Darkness and Callie, Panthera, JNgirl, Faith's Melody, Danny Phantom 66, Grey Raven North

Yayfulness: In Modern Day R+J, Sam's new adoptive family are named the Whites. Her name does eventually change, but not until the eighth or ninth chapter or somewhere around there. Thanks for your review!

cakreut12: Too many questions...um...Jarod is the ghost hunter for the convention that attacked Danny at first. Jazz went to the station, but you won't find out why until chapter twelve. Thanks for your review!

Chapter Eleven

Hotel Paper

"There's only one thing I can do Danny."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his in a passionate kiss. When she pulled away, his beautiful blue eyes stared into hers with such love, she kissed him again, quicker this time.

"Danny, I never wanted to hurt you like I know I did. I have never loved anyone more than you. And I can't believe it took me this long to see that," she whispered.

"I would wait an eternity for you," he replied.

"Promise?" she asked.

"A promise forever," he said.

She brushed back his hair away from his eyes and her own lilac irises widened. "Wow…you do have healing powers…"

"What?" he asked. Then he was fully aware of feeling no pain whatsoever in his body. Glancing down, he saw now scratches or cuts, just his skin—perfect as if nothing had happened.

"Your powers are back?" she asked.

"They must be," he guessed, staring down at his hand. He grinned, turning back to her. "It's amazing what a kiss can do."

She giggled and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes, so comfortable and so peaceful and so loving just being close to him. But she realized that right now…as much as she wanted it, it would have to wait.

"Danny, we have to find your sister," she whispered, running her hands through his hair.

"Will you come with me?" he asked.

"I wouldn't go anywhere without you," she said.

He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it as if he was having problems. She took his hand. "What's wrong?"

"I know…that she was your friend…but Karissa is a ghost…a half ghost," he finally said. "And she's evil."

"I believe you," she said honestly. "Where is she?"

"I don't know. But I think I need to find her after I find Jazz to sort this all out," he said. "I'm really sorry."

"No…like so many other things, I failed to see how Karissa was affecting me," Sam assured him. "I always felt so miserable when I was around her and her mom. And I always was suspicious at how she could do everything."

"I won't let her hurt you," he promised.

"I won't give her that chance," she said.

"Let's go," he said.

"Hey…Danny?" she asked. "Can…you…fly?" And Danny grinned.

* * *

"Where is my son?"

Jack Fenton aimed a weapon in Jarod's direction, his finger pulling back threateningly on the trigger.

"Oh, so you mean the one with ghost powers?" Jarod challenged angrily, watching his liege carefully. "Rest assured he wont' be returning soon."

"My son is not a ghost!" Jack exclaimed.

"Believe what you want, you never saw what I saw," Jarod hissed, whirling around the other direction.

Jack suddenly fired, sending an ectoplasm filled bullet that hit the floor hard and created a crack in the floor. Jarod turned around, freezing in his tracks.

"Trying to hit me? Why don't you commit the crime of murder, just like all ghosts," he said. "Face it Jack, humans are swayed so easily into doing it."

"Then don't give me the opportunity," Jack said.

"Your wife would have made a much better partner. This is useless, speaking to you. You clearly can't see what's right in your face."

"Don't you dare speak about my wife!" he exclaimed.

"Let me ask you something Jack," Jarod said. "I've been doing some research. How old is your son…did you say?"

"Why?"  
"Answer the question, I dare you," he retaliated.

"He will be eighteen in eight months," Jack replied.

"And his name is Danny Fenton…short for Daniel Jackson Fenton, am I correct?"

"What do you want with my son?" Jack demanded.

"Did you know that at the age of seventeen years old, you're officially legal to check into a hotel room without an adult?" He dug in his pocket and brought out a slip of paper, shoving it into his face. "Now…tell me that he's not here."

Jack lowered his weapon and took the papers, reading. "Room 203 checked out to a Samantha Manson and Danny Fenton on December 28 at two o'clock a.m."

"Didn't you say that both of your children went missing just the other day?" he asked, a triumphant smile playing on his face. "Your son probably snuck in with his girlfriend."

"Where do you think we'll find her?" a female voice asked.

"I don't know," came the reply from a teenage boy.

Both Jack and Jarod stopped talking, listening intently. Jack hated to admit it…but it sounded rather a lot like Danny's voice. And whoever it was speaking, they were just beyond the hallway where they were standing.

"Have you ever flown before?" he asked.

"On a plane," the girl admitted, giggling.

"Take my hand," he said gently. "And close your eyes."  
Jarod took this opportunity and rushed around the corner. Jack followed closely. Except when they entered…the hallway was strangely empty.

"Where did they go?" he asked, to no one in particular.

"Maybe they flew away," Jarod suggested, one eyebrow raised. "Like I've been telling you all along." His gaze flickered to the bronze plates on the wall. "Oh, and would you look at that. Rooms 210-190, this way. Follow me."

He began to walk and Jack sighed, following him anyway. Despite his avoidance on the subject of ghosts, he was beginning to doubt everything; but one thing was sure…his son could not be a ghost like Jarod claimed. It was radical. Danny wouldn't have kept a secret like that…surely.

"Room 203…hmm…those voices seemed miraculously close to this room, and to suddenly disappear like that is kind of strange, don't you think?" He stopped in front of the door.

"What are you going to do? Break in?" Jack said, his eyes narrowed.

"Oh, please Jack. I don't need to break in," he said. He pulled out a credit card shaped key from inside another pocket. "I had the front desk make me a copy."

"That's still entering, which is illegal," he pointed out.

"And why am I supposed to care if I find the evidence I've been searching for?" he asked. "You'll see that I've been right all of this time…your son is either a ghost, or he's been overshadowed by one suddenly. And he's here." Jack didn't say anything and Jarod smiled. "Shall we?"

"And what if there's someone in there?"

"There won't be," he said. "I think we just heard them leave."

"Daddy?" a voice asked.

Both men turned around to see a pretty, red headed girl walk up to them, her green eyes sparkly happily.

"Jazz? What are you doing here?" Jack asked, pulling his daughter into a hug.

She seemed confused. "I thought I told you. The note that Danny was supposed to leave on the refrigerator?"

"I didn't see a note," Jack said, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Did you look?" she asked, giggling.

"Well…no," he said. "I was trying to find you and Danny."

"Oh, we've been here for Tucker's cousin's wedding," she explained. "Danny and I have both been here for the past two days."

Jarod looked furious and Jack turned to him, his expression neutral, but in his dark blue eyes, you could see a flicker of triumph.

"And what about that Samantha girl? The one he checked a room out with?"

Something changed in Jazz's eyes then, almost as if she were angry, but it disappeared and she was smiling again. "I don't know what you're talking about. Tucker and Danny shared a room together."

"And who is Sam then?"

"Probably his mother or something, I don't know," she snapped.

"You're lying!" Jarod shouted.

"Jarod, find yourself another hunter," Jack suddenly said angrily. "We're finished working with each other."

"What?" Jarod asked.

"Nobody talks to my family like that," he said. He took the key from Jarod's hand and snapped it easily. "And stay away from my son." Jazz glared backwards at him and then with Jack, began to walk away from him.

"So, princess, I'm sorry about that," Jack said. "It seems that I've been making some pretty stupid choices. I'm afraid no one can replace your mother."

"No," she said quietly. "No one can."

"I'm sorry I didn't catch your note," he said, clearing his throat. "I wasn't even paying attention."

"That's okay. Danny could have forgotten to leave you one too," she said.

"Listen, there's something I need you to do for me," Jack said. "I know I haven't been around a lot after the accident, but could you talk to Danny for me?"

"About what?"

"Well, I've noticed that his grades are starting to slip. And I know that he's probably just struggling, but I have the odd feeling that he hasn't been feeling right since your mother died."

"Do you think he feels responsible for her death?" Jazz asked, a new gleam in her eyes.

"He was in the car with her when it happened, so maybe," he said. "But could you just make sure he doesn't feel guilty? There's already enough of that going around between this family."

Jazz nodded. "Sure thing…dad," she agreed. She checked her watch. "The wedding will start here in a few minutes, if you want, after I come home tomorrow morning, we can go out?"

"That sounds fabulous," he said, smiling. "And bring your brother along. Maybe we can have a quick three days after New Year's Eve Party."

She laughed. "That does sound good. So I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"I'll be waiting for you at home princess," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"Okay, I've got to go." She began to run the opposite direction.

"Bye Jazmine," he called.

She turned the corner and then laughed heartily, quite unlike herself. "Jack Fenton, taken care of. Meaning I can get what I want without any interruption." She glanced around and saw him walking off the other direction. Making no noise, she walked back into the hallway.

And walked straight through the door of room 203.

* * *

Sam reached out, feeling like she could touch the stars if she tried, feeling as if she were another world; where it was just her and Danny forever…

Danny laughed, pulling her closer to him and maintained speed, soaring through the sky to his house.

"It's so beautiful," she said, snuggling close to him. He was holding onto her side, his arm across her back. She was slightly lower than he was, so that her head was near his stomach, but she didn't care. As long as she was close to him.

"So how do you like flying?" he called back to her.

"I love it," she said truthfully.

"I always enjoyed flying," he said. "Defying gravity makes the challenge of life greater."

"You like challenge?" she asked.

"I like seeing how far I can push myself sometimes," he admitted. "So, yes, I suppose."

"I like taking the chance," she agreed. "How you can help yourself."

Danny smiled and then spotted his house a few yards ahead. "That's my house."

"Hang on, right?" she asked, grinning.

"Yep," he said. She grabbed onto him tightly and held on, just as Danny increased his speed, flying straight into the house. A few seconds before they plunged into the roof, he went intangible and landed in his room.

He gently helped her on her feet and changed back to his normal form. She looked around his room for the first time.

"You really are a 3 Doors Down fan, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, blushing slightly. "I love them."

"Me too," she said, taking his hand. Danny focused on not phasing through the floor in his sudden nervousness.

"If Jazz is here, I'll talk to her," he said.

"Okay," she said.

"Come with me and I'll give you the tour while we're here," he said.

"Sure," she said.

He took her hand and led her into the hallway. He pointed down the rest of the way. His room appeared to be the first door on the left. "Jazz is next to me, my dad's room is across from it, that's a closet and the stairway to the Op-Center and attic above us, and that's the bathroom."

She followed him down the stairs. "This is the living room," he continued. "And this is the kitchen." The room they'd walked into was a bright yellow and blue cabinet coordinated.

Danny jumped slightly as footsteps echoed, coming from the entrance to the lab. He blinked in surprise when he saw his dad.

"Hey Dad," he greeted.

"Danny!" Jack replied, smiling brightly. "I thought you were at the wedding."

Danny tried not to look like he had absolutely no clue what was going on. "I had to get a few things. Besides….it started late."

"Who's this?" he asked, referring to Sam.

"This is my date, Sam," he said, pulling her forwards.

Sam felt shy suddenly. "Hi," she greeted nervously.

"Pretty one," he said (making Sam blush even deeper). "Jazmine said something about a girl named Sam."

"Have you seen Jazz lately?" he asked. "I've been looking for her."

"Last place I saw her was at the Holiday Inn, near your room," Jack replied. "I heard that she was actually looking for you."

"Oh," he said. "We must have missed each other." He glanced at Sam. "Well, we'd better go, before they start without us."

"If I see Jazz, I'll let her know that you were looking for her," he said.

"Thanks," Danny said. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Sure thing," Jack answered. "Oh, and Danny Phantom."

"What?" Danny asked without thinking. Sam squeezed his hand rather hard and he thought of a quick excuse. "Sorry, I heard Danny and automatically replied."

Jack laughed. "You haven't seen him while you were at the hotel, did you?"

"No…no I didn't," he lied. "Sorry dad."

"Darn it, well, I'll see you later son," he said. "Nice meeting you, by the way." Sam smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

"Lata," Danny called. He led Sam back into the living room. Thinking it would probably be weird for his dad to see him leave through his room, he walked out the front door, closing it behind him carefully.

"He's nice. Reminds me of a big teddy bear," Sam said.

Danny burst into laughter. "Oh wow, I have never thought of my dad…that way. That's new." Sam grinned.

"So, back to the hotel?"

"Yep," he replied. "I hope you don't mind."

"Why would I mind?" she asked, kissing his nose and giggling.

"Because I feel like I'm dragging you everywhere to take care of my problems," he said.

"I'll go wherever you will go," she said. "Can't let you go, cause you're holding up my world, so I need you."

"I love that song so much more now," he said. There was a flash of light and he became his ghost form. "Ready?"

"Yeah, but I have one question," she said. "How fast can you go?"

"About two hundred miles an hour," he said.

"Then take the challenge," she said, grabbing onto him. "And let's fly."

* * *

"I'll be right back," Danny said, less than twenty minutes later. "I'm going to see if she's here somewhere."

"Okay," Sam said. "I'll just entertain myself with a movie."

"You can come with me," he said.

"Danny, it's none of my business what you say to Jazz if you find her," she assured him. "I'll be fine. Maybe when you're done, we can go out to eat or something."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, you worry too much," she said. "You're such a sweet heart." She kissed him on the cheek.

"I'll be right back," he said again.

"Okay," she said. She kissed him fully on the lips, closing her eyes to delight in feeling so good, her hand on his neck.

"Now I don't want to leave," he said sadly. She laughed.

"Go talk to your sister, and maybe I'll save one for you," she promised.

"One?"

"Or more."

"I'll be back."

"You've said that three times," she said, laughing hard.

"Okay, now I'm really leaving then," he said, turning to go. "Are you sure?"

"Go!" she said, almost in tears from laughing so hard.

He waved and walked down the hall. She watched him go and wondered how she could have lived without him. She'd never loved anyone more.

She glanced around. If she would hurry, she could go get a couple of Virgin Bloody Maries at the bar for them so that maybe they could continue what they'd had planned last night. She yawned, remembering that it had also been twenty four hours since she'd slept.

But she wanted to be with him. She glanced at her watch. He'd only been gone for two minutes (she already missed him); she could surely get back before he did.

She locked the door and headed down to the bar, unaware that she had been being watched.

* * *

Danny rolled his neck, growing slightly impatient. He'd been searching for twenty minutes and he still hadn't found Jazz. Would she still be here? Had they just mixed their paths? He didn't understand what was going on.

The only thing that he was hoping on that would go right now was Sam. He walked down the hallway to their room.

It was strange how a simple escape could lead you on the road that he'd never experienced before. He'd never known true love. He'd always thought that it was impossible to find a significant other that would fulfill your dreams like no one else could. How wrong he'd been. He could see a bright future with Sam now that she was with him again.

He turned the handle to his room only to find the door locked. Jumping up and down to get the key out of his back pocket, he slid it into the hole and it clicked open.

"Sam?" he called.

There was no reply.

He walked further into the room, hoping that he hadn't woken her up. He just realized what time it was. He hadn't slept for an entire day. But it didn't seem to be affecting him yet. She might have fallen asleep.

He crept in quietly the rest of the way. There was no one there however. He stopped, confused.

Just then, something hit him in the back of his head. He fell forwards, blinking stars from his eyes, and turned around to see his sister standing behind him, holding the remnants of a shattered vase. She dropped the pieces to the ground where he kneeled.

"Jazz?" he asked, swaying slightly.

"Tell me something Danny," she said darkly. He stood up shakily, watching her. "How does it feel to know that when you get something back…you lose it again?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked. The room was starting to spin around him.

She moved her hand suddenly and something sharp slid into his wrist. He cried out in pain, lifting his arm up.

A solid silver object was now lodged into his skin. He knew that if he got it out, his powers would automatically heal the wound. He reached for it.

But she wasn't going to give him that chance.

"Go ahead, rip that out," she said. "I dare you."

"What do you want?" he asked. He prayed that it was the night that was making the room darker. Blood dripped from his arm.

"To see you fall…for me," she said.

"What?"

"As soon as that little thing in your arm hit your bloodstream, you've now lost your powers for the next twenty four hours," she said. She laughed. "Kind of weird that that rhymed."

"Karissa," Danny figured out. "Get out of her, now!"

"Why? You destroyed my last body," she said angrily. "It's only fair that I destroy your own blood."

"What do you want?"

"You've already heard what I want, damn it!" she yelled. "And I'm going to get what I want, once and for all. And there's nothing your little whore of a girlfriend can do about it."

She reached backwards and yanked the bureau with the tv inside, using unnatural strength, over. Danny tried going intangible…but the object that was currently trapped in his skin had done exactly what she had said. The whole thing crashed down on top of him, creating a thunderous noise that shook the entire room.

And there was nothing left but silence….

* * *

Danny groaned softly, coming to. An odd taste came into his mouth and his head shook, trying to regain consciousness.

He was vaguely aware that someone was holding onto his arm and that he seemed to be in a standing position.

"Just do it!" a voice demanded. "I just got this body back and I'm not going to rid of it again."

He leaned his head up and dared to open his eyes. Karissa, in her own body once again, stood before him.

"It's goody goody ghosts like you that really tick me off, you know that?" she asked, seeing that he was awake.

He didn't reply and his bloodied arm throbbed suddenly, making him cringe. The silver object was still lodged into his wrist.

"I could have given you anything you wanted, but you had to go and screw that up, didn't you?" Karissa said, shoving him up against the wall.

"I don't make deals with evil ghosts, sorry to confuse you," he said hoarsely, trying to break away. The cuff was too strong, and his other hand wouldn't cooperate as she did the other one.

She stared into him. "You would if it was something you really wanted," she said.

"You won't hurt Sam," he demanded.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about Sam," she said. "I was talking about something else."

"Like what?" he asked.

"What's the one thing you've been wanting back since it was taken away from you Danny?" she asked. "The one thing that you've been without since you were fifteen."

He caught on and a new fierce wave of emotions hit him.

"You want your mother back, don't you?"

There was the sound of a muffled gasp from the opposite wall. Both Karissa and Danny looked up to see Jazz, chained to the wall as well, her pretty face pale.

"Danny," she cried.

"Let her go!" he said.

"Why? What are you going to do about it?" she asked. "There's nothing you can do. You're miserable without her, aren't you?"

"Let her go!' he said.

"You want your mother back, don't you?" she repeated. She touched the side of his face gently. "It was so horrible how she was taken from you, just like that."

"Karissa, stop it!" Jazz pleaded.

"You shut up!" Karissa snapped, her eyes never leaving Danny.

"Danny," Jazz said again.

"Danny," Karissa cooed sarcastically. "Danny, Danny." She grinned. "Those were her last, dying words, weren't they? Danny, Danny, don't let me die."

Letting out a cry of fury, Danny grasped onto the cuffs and yanked upwards, kicking his feet out and hitting Karissa squarely in the chest. At the same time, he heard his arm break.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that," she grumbled, standing up again. "But then again, I won't have to expect the unexpected anymore. Looks like you won't be doing that again." She carefully stepped towards the side of him. "You know what they say, when you break it once, it's easier to break it again."

"Let her go and I'll do whatever you want," Danny said, his voice choked in pain.

"I gave you that chance when we first met," she said. "I don't understand men. I'm prettier, I'm richer, I'm more powerful…but who did you choose? Sam."

"You actually think you're prettier than Sam? Hmm…that's really bad judgment," he smarted off.

Her eyes suddenly glowed vividly. "You want to play games, fine. I'm sure your sister won't mind hearing a few things that you've failed to mention to her."

"I've already told her things that she's needed to know," he said.

"Really? Did you tell her about how you tried to find your poor old mum?" she asked. "How you could have brought her back for good?"

"What?" Jazz asked, interrupting the silence that came after her statement.

"You're lying," Danny said hoarsely.

"Am I? Who's the liar now Danny?" Karissa challenged. "You've been lying to everyone you know, even yourself. You did get to speak to your mother before she died, didn't you? And you never told anyone what she said…did you?"

"Shut up!" he shouted.

She pressed a hand to his forehead and he felt the world fall down upon him. All the things he could have done to stop everything from happening….

"Stop it!" Jazz said as Danny's blue eyes glazed over.

"Don't worry Danny," Karissa said. "You'll be joining your mother soon. The more misery I drain out of you…the less life you have."

* * *

Nice, huh? Don't you hate me? The next chapter, like Chapter Seven (Love Me Like That) starts out with Sam's point of view again. The next chapters are called 'Til I Get Over You and It's You, the final chapters.

Please R&R! Here's your sneak peek!

_Chapter Twelve: 'Til I Get Over You_

_"You have the choice, Jazmine, save your own life and escape and kill the girl of your brother's dreams or stay here, save him and lose your own life?"_

_"I don't care. Sam and Danny live," she said, her voice breaking._

_"Don't you hate it?" Karissa asked. "Now that Danny's dead, you think that I'm tricking you. You don't trust me, but you have no choice but to trust me."_

_"Trust is an issue I think we all need to work on Karissa."_

**Today's Updates: **Sunshine Circle, Hotel Paper, Of All the People to Be Stuck With,Hanging By A Moment, Love Me, Love Me, Modern Day R+J, Even In Death, Wherever You Will Go

**Tomorrow's Updates: ALL NEW! **Ghost Gal 2, Somewhere In Between, Show and Tell, Away From the Sun

**Coming Soon!**

**New Editing and New Versions: **Worthy, Phase Form, Sunshine Circle, Freeze Out, The Elevator Game, The Rebel, Fired Up, Hermione's Diary: Year One, Before the Letter, Becoming, Ghost Gal, Images, Fiction

**New Stories: **The Taker's Stone, Forsaken, The Phantom Rogue, What Ifs, The Ghost Guide, Kryptonite, 04092015, Time of Your Life, Virtuality, Elsewhere, If You're Not the One

**Next Updates!; **Seventeen Days, Adjustment, Til Death Do Us Part, Willing, Feeling Fear, Becoming, In the Arms of the Angel, Infinity, The Rebel, The Ghost At Summer Camp

Lateraina Wolf


	12. Til I Get Over You

Hello! Yes, it's the next to last chapter… It's funny how Sunshine Circle is actually longer than this one is, but then again, I had control over the number of chapters in that one. Oh, and since there won't be a sneak peek to chapter twelve so I don't ruin the ending, I'm going to give you a sneak peek to the sequel, Eternally Yours, coming soon after this one is finished.

Thanks to my reviewers!

Sam-n-Danny1, cakreut12 x3, darkbunny92, Liv3LykeH3LL x2, Tizamiki, Kuki Salazar, the sleep warrior, Going Ghost, Ginger x2, emera-fire22, Laurelleaves, inuyashapup, xheartkreuzx, Lucifer, Johann-son, blade-king, Bre, ArcherofDarkness and Callie, Penguin, Hopeless4life, DannyPhantom66, SHADOW ANGUS

Raveninnda Shadows x4: Lateraina? I have no idea whatsover. I think I just made it up quite honestly. Someone told me it was Latin, but I doubt it. Thanks for your reviews!

Chapter Twelve

'Til I Get Over You

"Guess what?" Sam asked, kicking the door open. "I even got a whole bunch of cherries free…" She tiptoed into the room and looked around. "Danny?" The bathroom door was closed, so she figured he must be in there. She closed the door. "You wouldn't believe who I ran into on the way to the bar…"

It took a second before she took in her surroundings and then she saw the tv dresser had been thrown over and had split, bits and pieces of glass and wood all over the carpet. The glasses dropped from her hands.

"Danny?" she called. She rushed farther into the room, jumping over the beds. "Danny!" She put her hand to her forehead, trying to think. "No…" she whispered, closing her eyes. "I just got you back…"

"I—I can help you find him," said a voice.

Sam screamed and jumped about a foot. Turning towards the corner, she saw the familiar blonde clerk that worked for the hotel. Her eyes narrowed; she'd also seen him with Karissa.

"What do you want? Where's Danny?" she asked.

He stood up, his green eyes blank. "Karissa has him. And his sister, Jazmine. I know where they are and I can lead you to them."

"Why? So you can trick me?" she asked angrily. "I don't believe you."

"I don't…I don't want to hurt you. Karissa is just over her head and she knows it. She will never expect that you end up finding her. And I think that you'll definitely surprise her."

"Where is she? Is she with Danny right now? What did she do to him?"

"I can take you there," he said, not answering any of her questions.

"Is Danny okay?"

"Sam, if we don't hurry, he won't be. She will kill him. And his sister."

Sam felt herself falling away. "What…?"  
"Do you want to save them?" he asked her.

"Yes," she said.

"Then you have to trust me," he said. "I can lead you straight to them. But we have to hurry."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "Who are you?"

"My name…my name is Brad. And I'm helping you because it's my word against Penelope and my dad," he explained.

"So why are you betraying Karissa?"

"Because she's wrong. Now, let's go." He held out his hand, but then remembered something. He pulled an object out of his pocket and stared down.

"What is that?" she asked warily.

"The reversal effect to Karissa's power."

* * *

"Man, that's good."

"Stop it Karissa!" Jazz yelled.

Karissa turned around, her hand still lingering against the side of Danny's face. "Why? Don't want to see your little brother die? Is it too much for the big sister?"

"Leave him be…kill me instead then," she said, swallowing.

"Aww…isn't that sweet?" Karissa said, finally pulling away to fully face her. "Jazmine wants to take her brother's place. Do you want to know something sweetie?"

She walked over to Jazz and leaned up against the wall beside her, as if having a normal conversation. "Little Danny over there has a lot more in his mind than he's told you. Have you ever wondered why he never told you about his ghost powers?"

Jazz didn't reply, but she didn't need to. Karissa continued on. "He was scared."

"Of what?" she asked, unable to resist.

"Of what you would say. Did you know that you broke his little heart when you didn't accept his ghost powers? When you accused him of killing your mother? It hurts you know." She grabbed Jazz's suspended hand and instantly felt stronger with every passing second.

"Too bad you'll never get to say you're sorry. He'll probably haunt you now. But…isn't that what all ghosts do?"

"Danny's not like that. He's not evil," Jazz told her, her face drained of any color.

"No, but after what he's been through, and after I kill him, he could very well be evil when he becomes full ghost," she said. "And you're going to watch him die too…"

"Leave him alone," Jazz exclaimed, struggling against her restraints.

"Oh…don't worry. I have a plan in mind for young Daniel. And as soon as he's dead, I'll tell you what it is." Karissa stepped away from her and floated towards Danny. She scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm…what's a good, bad memory?" she asked, speaking to herself more. "How about one that doesn't exist….But that doesn't mean he won't believe it…if he were conscious, then he wouldn't…but, he's not, so…yay."

"Karissa, no!" Jazz shouted in horror. "Please, don't!"

"This is for you Jazzy," Karissa said. She touched Danny's chest, over his heart with her hand.

"Your friends and family are all gone Danny. What are you going to do now? You killed them all. Look what you've done now. Your best friend, your own dad and sister, your little girlfriend….all of them are dead, because of you…"

"No!" Jazz cried.

There was a black shadow that trailed from Karissa's fingers and crossed over Danny's face. His entire body was surrounded by a black cloud and he opened his eyes once weakly, before they closed again…and he let out one last breath.

"Ahh…" Karissa said, feeling the power surging through her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the strong sensation that went through her body.

Jazz felt a tear fall down her face. "Danny…"

"Oh, hush," Karissa snapped. "You just had to ruin my blissful moment, didn't you?" She walked over to her. "Besides, I have a deal for you big sissy."

"Go to hell," Jazz hissed.

"Oooh…harsh." She walked back over to another corner of the room. "Why do you have to make me do this?" She dragged what looked like a silver and red weapon from a table and walked back. "See this?"

Jazz didn't reply, her blue-green eyes shining with angry tears. Karissa smiled triumphantly. "This is the weapon that could bring your brother back to life. He'll be a little different, but, you'll have him back. So…what do you think?"

"You're lying," Jazz muttered. Karissa laughed.

"You have the choice, Jazmine, save your own life and escape and kill the girl of your brother's dreams or stay here, save him and lose your own life?"

"I don't care. Sam and Danny live," she said, her voice breaking.

"Don't you hate it?" Karissa asked. "Now that Danny's dead, you think that I'm tricking you. You don't trust me, but you have no choice but to trust me."

"Trust is an issue I think we all need to work on Karissa."

Karissa jumped and whirled around to find the barrel of a gun pointed at her head. Staring past the gaping hole where the ammo would come from, she stared into the lilac eyes of Sam.

"You!" Karissa said. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Jazz, are you okay?" Sam asked, never taking her eyes off of her former best friend.

"Danny," Jazz whispered. "I'm fine…but Danny."

Karissa saw Sam's gaze flicker just barely behind her, where Danny was and smiled. "You haven't seen him yet, have you?" she asked.

"Where is he?" Sam asked.

"Look behind you," she instructed. "Sorry you didn't get to say goodbye."

Sam spun around to see Danny's hands tied up with chains, hanging loosely from the wall, his eyes closed. Her heart clenched.

"Made you look," Karissa said.

Sam felt something hard collide with the back of her head and cried out, falling to the ground. Blinking stars out of her eyes, she looked up to see Karissa hovering over her, her green eyes glowing.

"You never take your eyes off the enemy, didn't you know that?"

"Good point Kari," Sam snapped, nodding behind her.

Karissa turned around to see a flash of white light surrounded her and flew backwards, smashing hard into the wall.

"Brad, what are you doing?" she shouted, seeing her familiar assistant. He stood near Jazz, a weapon held out in front of him.

"How does it feel to be betrayed, Kari?" Sam asked, standing up, and pointing the gun at her.

"Oh, don't give me any sad, sappy story. You should have figured it out a long time ago Sammie."

"I always wondered why you got everything you wanted, and now I do know why. But you didn't get Danny, did you?"

Karissa smiled. "Neither do you anymore." She stood up against the wall. "So, are you going to shoot me with that thing? Or just stand here and torment me?"

Sam stared at her for a second longer before closing her eyes and pulling the trigger back. Karissa went intangible, a wicked grin on her face, but the bright light that shot off from the opening didn't even reach her.

"All that and you missed?" she asked incredulously.

"Actually…I didn't," Sam said.

"Excuse me?" Karissa asked. "Why am I still here then?"

"So we can kick your ass together," said a voice.

Karissa gasped, her face growing wide in a scream. "That's not possible…"

"Wanna bet?" There was a flash of light and Sam grasped onto Danny's hand as he changed into his ghost form. His pale face steadily started to gain color and he was still shaky, but he was alive.

Sam blew the smoke away that trailed from the opening of her gun. "Thanks Brad."

"No problem," Brad replied.

"Oh, I get it," Karissa said. "Well done. You're all against me now."

Danny stepped forwards, but Sam held him back. He gave her a questioning look that even Karissa noticed.

"What's the matter Sam? Can't kill your best friend, can you?"

"You're not going to die Karissa. But you are going back where you belong," Sam said. "And I have just the thing that will take you there." She grasped onto the strap across Danny's back and pulled the Fenton Thermos away.

"Would you do that Sammie? Who took care of you after everything you've gone through?" Karissa said, her eyes widening. "Who comforted you through everything? Mark, your mother, your parents' split? Your grandmother's death? I was there. And you're just going to throw it away because of him?"

Sam glanced up at Danny, who looked back at her, his pretty green eyes unreadable. She smiled at him. "Yeah…I am."

"You wouldn't," Karissa said.

"I would," Sam said. She pressed the button on the Fenton Thermos and the last thing they heard was Karissa's defeated cry of, "No!"

* * *

Ah, the conflict is over…for this story at least. Now all you have is the delectable, sweet ending of the next chapter, but like I promised, I'm giving you a sneak peek to the sequel to this story.

Oh, and anything that happened previously above, will probably be explained more in the sequel or the next chapter, like how Danny was able to come back to life (in a way).

Please R&R! The final chapter of Hotel Paper will be here soon! Here's your sneak peek!

_Eternally Yours_

_Chapter Three: Love Like Yours_

_"Are we allowed to do this in your school?" she asked, breaking away for a moment._

_"I've been caught for worse," he told her._

_"Danny!" she exclaimed._

_"No, that's not what I meant," he said, laughing. He intertwined their fingers together and kissed the tops of each one. She giggled and then bent down, kissing him on the lips. _

_"So…what have you gotten in trouble here for exactly?" she asked, grinning._

_"I could stand here and list them, but that might take a while," he said._

_"Well, I bet we could find something to do," she said, kissing him again._

**Next Updates: Insight View, Fiction 2, Becoming, Adjustment, Sunshine Circle, Show and Tell, 04092015 (New), Flash, Infinity, Modern Day R+J**

Lateraina Wolf


	13. It's You

The final chapter…let's make it a good one, shall we? See a sneak peek to chapter one of Eternally Yours after the ending.

Thanks to my reviewers!

Hiroko Yakuza Ketchum, Unlikely-to-bear-it, blade-king, DannyPhantomLover, Kairi7, Kuki Salazar, emera-fire22, Penguin, Ginger Guardian Angel, DPandAEforever, inuyashapup, ArcherofDarkness and Callie, the sleep warrior, Going Ghost, Slayer of Souls, TizamiKi, SHADOW ANGUS, xheartkreuzx, DannyPhantom66, RainRaven, thesupersavior, Snea

Editing for this story will be in February. For those of you who have read my profile recently, you should see a schedule up for new stories, completed stories, and editing dates. This story will not be changed at any point, except for the grammar/spelling mistakes. Also, lyrics will be added in italics, but not all of them, just a few here in there like there will be in this chapter.

And now, for the last and final chapter. Thanks so much for making my work on this so enjoyable. You have no idea how truly grateful I am. Enjoy!

_Dedication:  
For DannyPhantom66 and Shorty._

_Friends forever._

Chapter Thirteen

It's You

_If tomorrow never comes…I would just one thing…_

Danny stared out into the setting sun absentmindedly, his hands shoved into his coat for warmth. It wouldn't be the first time he'd sought solitude on top of his own house. He'd never been bothered before on the roof, but that was usually what he wanted.

He could think up here. He had to admit, the past four days had been the most dramatic and confusing of his life. He'd runaway from home, been hunted by a professional, fought against a ghost and had died, but then been brought back to life and…had fallen in love.

And he'd thought his life before Sam had been complicated. Now, everything was different. In his life, he'd always had his family. Until two years ago, he'd been a part of that family. And he knew he hadn't been the best son since his mother's death. But now…Jazz knew his secret, and even though she was still giving it a lot of thought, she seemed to be liking it more and more. He realized he probably needed her more too and in a weird way, was glad that he'd finally told her. He was also really considering to tell his own dad about his ghost powers, but he was also shy about that; yet it was still on his mind.

He owed Tucker a lot of gratitude. His best friend had been a major help and Danny had probably been a jerk in return. But he was going to change that. He had to change that.

Now…now there was Sam. He'd fallen deep for her and they'd only known each other four days. He couldn't believe how he much he truly loved her. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He'd be willing to do anything for her.

"Danny?"

Danny turned around and jumped slightly, seeing Sam come out of the stairwell. He smiled when she walked towards him. "Hey…"

"Oh, wow. It's freezing out here," she said, standing next to him.

"It's winter," he couldn't help but reply.

She gave him a sly look. "I'm well aware of that." She grinned and stared out into the horizon. "But…it's beautiful."

"Yeah," he said, paying more attention to her then the sunset.

She noticed and smiled even more. "I was talking about the view," she said, wrapping her arms around him. "But I enjoy compliments." She leaned up and kissed him on the lips quickly. "So…what are you doing up here?"

"Thinking," he replied honestly.

She put her head on his chest. "Jazz told me you were up here in your 'fortress of solitude." She giggled and made him laugh.

"Jazz just knows that I like Superman," he told her.

"There's nothing wrong with like superheroes," she said.

"Unless…" he trailed off and tensed around her suddenly.

"Unless what?" she asked, concerned.

"Unless I put you in danger. Like I did earlier," he said.

"Danny, I put myself in danger by being friends with Karissa," she said, knowing where this was going. "You had nothing to do with it."

"I wish I could protect you all of the time," he whispered.

"But…you can't…" she said. "Something might happen, but we'll get through it." She touched his arm gently.

"My life…my job…is in constant chaos and danger with all these ghosts…and my own powers," he said. "I…I really don't want you hurt."

"Pushing me away isn't going to keep me from getting hurt Danny," she said. "Don't even try it."

"It's just…I don't want you--"

"Hurt? Yeah, I know. But I don't care."

"I do…" he said desperately.

"Danny, look at me and tell me after everything…everything we've been through in the last few days…you're going to throw it all away because you're afraid…"

"I can't," he said after a while.

"Danny…do you love me?" she asked.

"Yes," he said sincerely, closing his eyes. "I've never loved anyone like you."

"And I feel the same way. Surely a love like that can't be broken…no matter what," she said to him.

_And it's you…the light changes when you're in the room_

"I can't promise anything," Danny said.

"You can actually," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You can promise…to love me forever," she said, her eyes desperate.

"I would never imagine not loving you anymore," he said. He picked her up and spun her around a few times. She laughed and pulled him close, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss. "I don't know how I got by the first seventeen years of my life."

"So what do you want when all your dreams have come true Danny?" she asked him quietly.

"The chance to live it up," he said. "Make things even better. And I can't do it with just anyone." He smiled at her and leaned down, kissing her again.

"I must talk too much," she said, pulling away again, grinning.

"Yeah, you do," he teased, pressing his lips to hers.

The door to the stairwell opened again and Danny and Sam broke away to see Jazz step out onto the roof.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," she apologized.

"That's okay," Danny said, taking Sam's hand. "H-how are you feeling?" he stammered.

"I'm better. As long as I don't get chained up to a wall anytime soon, I think I'll be okay," she said, giving him a smile. He started to say something, but she cut him off.

"Danny, I know what you're going to say. You're my brother," Jazz said. "And as much as I hate to admit to being wrong…I should have been there a lot more for you."  
"I also could have told you," he said.

"Yeah, you could have," she said. "But…in a way, I could have figured it out on my own….Imagine my surprise when I find out that my little brother was part ghost."

"Imagine my surprise," Sam agreed.

"The thing is…I think it's wonderful. A little weird, sure…but all the good things you've done…" Jazz said. "And I never saw it before. But now I do."

Danny had gone a bright shade of red. "Thanks Jazz."

"Dinner's ready whenever you are," she said. "And to both of you…thanks for saving my life." Jazz smiled and walked away, back into the house.

"Now…everything's back to normal," Sam said. "Well…as normal as it gets when the love of your life is part ghost."

He laughed and kissed her quickly. "Want to stay for dinner?"

"I thought you'd never ask," she said.

"Really?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "That was sarcasm Danny." She laughed at the confused look on his face. "Yes, I'll stay for dinner."

"Good," he said, kissing the top of her nose. Sam smiled and he returned it, both of them never feeling happier in their lives.

"So…Sam…what do you want when all of your dreams come true?" Danny asked her, taking her hand and walking back towards the house, their arms around each other.

Sam kissed him once. "It's you."

_And it's you….oh, it's you…_

**The End**

**Continued in Eternally Yours**

* * *

Ah…sweet romance. I love it so much. The sweetest thing a guy could do for me would be to buy me a rose whenever he just darn feels like it. I think roses are so pretty. They're my favorite flowers. What about you…for the girls that is, all who read this at least.

Please R&R! Once again, thank you so much! Here's your sneak peek!

Coming Soon! Eternally Yours!

_Eternally Yours:_

_Chapter One: Key to my Heart_

_"Guess what?" she asked, sitting down on the couch and pulling him close to her._

_"What?" he asked, wondering why she suddenly seemed so excited._

_"I got my dad to do something for me," she said. "You know how I'm kind of…I don't know…alienated?"_

_"Well…I kind of got the hint in the hot tub," he told her._

_"What?" she asked. "I was talking about religion…"_

_"I know that," he said, his eyes wide. He laughed. "What did you think I mean?"_

_She groaned. "I hang out with too many boys."_

Also, I am really sorry for not updating very good this week. It's been kind of hectic lately with the final exams coming up and I've been having some problems getting things done, most especially fanfiction. So, I'm really sorry, and I am trying. All updates that have been scheduled for today, besides Hotel Paper of course, have now been rescheduled for **Monday**. Including:

**New:** Time of Your Life, Mirrors, What Ifs, A Cross Between Crimes, 04092015

**New Chapters: (DEFINITE)** Love Me, Love Me, Virtuality, Sunshine Circle, Fiction 2, Adjustment, Even In Death, Could It Be Any Harder, The Phantom Rogue, Somewhere In Between

**Possibilities:** Flash, Away From the Sun, Becoming, Elsewhere, Paradise, and Worthy

Lateraina Wolf


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